Officials from the Pentagon addressed the Senate Armed Services Committee this week, asking lawmakers to consider "grandfathering" the reductions that were recently made to the annual cost-of-living adjustments for military retirees under the age of 62.
Military Times reported that Deputy Secretary of Defense Christine Fox and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Adm. James Winnefeld encouraged the committee to exempt current military retirees, as well as servicemembers who are about to leave the military, from the reductions.
"Because of the complex nature of military retirement benefits, we recommend that the Congress not make any additional changes in this area until the commission provides its report," Fox said during the hearing, as quoted by the news source.
In December 2013, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014, which outlines defense spending for the year. President Barack Obama signed the bill into law shortly before the start of the new year.
A provision of the NDAA reduces the annual cost-of-living adjustments by 1 percent for military retirees under 62 years of age. By doing so, the Defense Department is expecting to save $6 billion over the next 10 years. However, the COLA reduction will not be enacted until 2015.
The news outlet noted that while Congress approved the bill, no member on the Senate committee stated their support of the COLA cuts during the recent hearing.
NPR reported that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has conducted its annual survey of the nation's homeless population, including veterans.
Every January, HUD picks a night for its "point-in time" survey of the homeless population. According to reporter Quail Lawrence, who covers veterans, thousands of volunteers traveled throughout New York City on a frigid night this week, counting the number of those living without permanent shelter.
Lawrence said he went with the volunteers to Madison Square Park and Penn Station, and only met one veteran. The Department of Veterans Affairs uses the annual HUD report as a way to track veterans homelessness in the U.S.
"[The VA] has said that maybe 12 percent of the homeless population are veterans … Predominantly Vietnam [War veterans] are among the homeless population," Lawrence reported. "There is a figure of about 48,000 thousand post-9/11 veterans who were helped out by the VA in some way, according to last year's statistics. They were either helped out for being homeless or on the verge of homelessness."
The most recent homelessness report from HUD was released in the fall of 2013. The department found that on any single night in January 2013, there were more than 57,000 veterans living without permanent housing.
For the military, the Super Bowl is not just about football. Fighter jets from the Continental United States North American Aerospace Defense Command Region will be at next Sunday's game to protect the skies above the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
According to Pentagon officials, air defense practices are expected to begin in the greater East Rutherford area this week. The exercises, which are closely controlled and planned, will consist of a series of training flights in coordination with various other national and regional agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration, Customs and Border Protection, Civil Air Patrol, the FBI and CONR's Eastern Air Defense Sector.
"There are a lot of interagency partners involved in the air defense of this year's Super Bowl," said CONR commander and Air Force Lt. Gen. William H. Etter. "With multiple agencies involved, coordination between all air-defense partners is crucial. This exercise allows all of the interagency partners to come together before the game to hone their air defense skills and ensure communications are working properly."
CONR fighters have responded to more than 5,000 possible air threats in the U.S. since 9/11. Etter stated that Super Bowl Sunday is just another day that CONR personnel are "making sure our skies are safe."
They say blood is thicker than water but in order to see how strong familial bonds can be, look no further than the Wilkerson twins.
Staff Sgts. Eric and Jason Wilkerson are currently stationed at Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base. This marks the brothers' first tour of duty in the country, but they're far from inexperienced. As the Defense Video & Imagery System reports, this marks the fourth consecutive time that the Wilkerson twins have been deployed to combat zones together, making life after service seem much like business as usual on the home front.
"It doesn't bother us," Jason said of the twins' multiple deployments. "We've stayed together and learned many things together, so we like it."
From their first tour in 2004 to their current one in Afghanistan, the Wilkerson twins have served at Camp Cook in Iraq and twice in Kuwait. They are both trained as Heavy Equipment Operators, or 88Ms, driving gun trucks and convoys across battlegrounds.
The Wilkersons join a long list of military siblings that served, enlisted or retired together, especially in recent years. In 2013, the DOD highlighted a pair of sisters who also deployed to Bagram Air Base together.
Five servicemen will trade their combat uniforms for tight-fitting spandex bobsled suits as they prepare for the Sochi Olympics.
The Army announced that Capt. Chris Fogt, Sgt. Justin Olsen, Sgt. Nick Cunningham, Sgt. Dallas Robinson and 1st Lt. Michael Kohn will compete across two of the three US teams in the event in February. All five Olympians come from the World Class Athlete Program, a national training program that supports soldier-athletes through training regimens at facilities across the country.
Cunningham will drive Team USA's second sled in the four-man event as well as one in the two-man event. Conventional wisdom says being either a soldier or an elite athlete is enough a time-consuming and stressful commitment, but Cunningham knows the key to success at the highest level is to remember the people that got you there.
"Representing my country is my main goal in life and I will put most of my effort into that," Cunningham writes on his personal blog at TeamUSA.org. "However, I will not shut out my friends and family to achieve that goal. They have all supported me and will be by my side on this journey."
This isn't the first time Cunningham has had Olympic dreams for life after service. He also tried out to be a sprinter for the 2008 summer games, according to The Associated Press.
While they may have been playing a game rather than serving in combat, a few former NFL players who have already made the switch to retirement shared their stories with veterans adapting to life after service.
Former members of the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts were on hand to talk veterans through the transition to new phases of their post-service lives at the Jan. 19 "Real Warriors, Real Battles, Real Strength Game Day," event in Fort Carson, Colo., according to the Colorado Springs Gazette. Much like servicemen and women, football players prepare their entire lives for a single purpose and when that career is taken away from them by age or injury, the change can be difficult.
"Depression knocked me out, insecurities knocked me out," said Chris Sanders, a former Titans wide receiver who played seven years in the league. "But when I reached out and got help – that's when I got back in the game."
The issues facing soldiers coming home or leaving active duty are as serious as they are numerous. One of the most prevalent is post-traumatic stress disorder, which Military.com says affects nearly 30 percent of all soldiers who have experienced combat situations.
Mental health services are usually included among benefits for veterans struggling with leaving their military career behind.
A recently launched online program provides aid to military spouses who are in need of career and education guidance. Called My Individual Career Plan, or MyICP, the new interactive resource lets military spouses build digital career roadmaps based on their own goals and objectives.
The web resource debuted Jan. 10 on the Military OneSource website with the help of the Department of Defense's Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program. It's available to all active-duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps spouses, as well as National Guard and Reserve spouses. Surviving spouses are also eligible to use the program. However, all military spouses have to first register at the SECO website before accessing MyICP.
"SECO provides expert career and education guidance to military spouses worldwide, supporting them in four career lifecycle stages: career exploration, education, training and licensing, employment readiness, and career connections," said SECO program analyst Lee McMahon in a statement.
McMahon added that MyICP allows military spouses access to the 200 companies and organizations that compose SECO's Military Spouse Employment Partnership, so that military spouses can more easily find job openings.
A recent study from the RAND Corporation found that while a majority of military spouses are employed, they are more likely to be seeking work and earn less on average than civilian spouses.
A group of Delaware veterans are restoring a combat-zone helicopter as a way to honor the fallen soldiers of the Vietnam War.
WBOC reported that the Delaware Vietnam Veterans of America recently acquired a UH-1 helicopter, also known as "Huey," which was used during the Vietnam War to rescue injured soldiers from the war zone. It took years for the group to find a Huey, because although hundreds were initially produced, only a small amount of remain.
"Once I seen it, it brought back a lot of memories," Joe Startt Jr., a Vietnam veteran who was saved by one of these helicopters during the war, told the news source. "My last ride was horizontal and I want to sit vertical up in this thing one time."
The helicopter is currently being refurbished so it can be placed as a Vietnam memorial at the Kent County Veterans Memorial Park in the upcoming months. According to Delaware Vietnam Veterans of America website, the group is hoping to hold a dedication ceremony for the memorial March 30, which is Vietnam Veterans Day.
About 2.7 million Americans served in the military during the Vietnam War, according to the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation.
A Department of Veterans Affairs website recently experienced a data breach that affected thousands of veterans and their families. Now, the House Veterans Affairs Committee is looking into the incident, adding it to the recent investigations it has been conducting on the veterans agency.
According to Federal News Radio, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki sent a letter to the committee last week, requesting answers to 18 questions regarding the security breach. Shinseki expects the responses by Jan. 31.
"The agency's information systems, including the eBenefits portal, continue to be afflicted by persistent information security weaknesses," Shinseki wrote. "Recognizing the importance of securing Veterans' personal information, and minimalizing the risk of serious consequences such as identity theft or other fraudulent activity, the Committee expects VA to take all steps necessary to strengthen the security and privacy of the eBenefits portal."
Shinseki is expecting the VA to outline how it identified the number of users affected by the security breach, how these users were notified and if veterans are requesting evidence of their personal information being stolen.
The eBenefits Web portal, which is also partially operated by the Department of Defense, provides information on various military benefits, including health care and education assistance. According to the VA, approximately 10,000 users logged into the portal the day the cyber breach occurred.
Field artillery has traditionally been a male-dominated discipline in the military. However, one female officer is blazing a trail for other women to follow.
Army 2nd Lt. Taylor Cardosi recently became the first women to serve as a fire direction officer in a M777A1 howitzer cannon unit, according to the Department of Defense. She is currently a member of the 1st Battalion, 37th Artillery Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Fort Lewis, Wash.
Cardosi entered active-duty service Dec. 27, 2012, around the same time that the Defense Department opened up a large number of new positions for women, including field artillery.
"I like to think that I want this as a career," Cardosi said. "I'm patient enough to wait and, when that time arrives, prove that I should have been there all along. For now, that's the plan — make it a career and become a battalion commander, a brigade commander, a general."
According to data compiled by the departments of Defense and Veteran Affairs, more than 214,000 women currently serve in the military. The Army has nearly 77,000 female soldiers on active-duty status, which comprises 13 percent of the branch. Overall, more than 1.8 female military veterans reside in the U.S.