When the federal shutdown hit last October, Catholic chaplains were barred from entering military bases, depriving active-duty troops and their families of Catholic mass and other services. Now, a New Jersey-based priest who filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense is pressing on to protect chaplains from being furloughed during future federal closures.
The Star Ledger reported that Rev. Ray Leonard, a chaplain assigned to the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia, filed the lawsuit Oct. 14, claiming that the cancelation of religious services violated his freedom of speech. He ultimately won the lawsuit, as the Pentagon lifted the furlough on the chaplains a day later. However, the news outlet stated that Leonard is determined to take the lawsuit further.
"I've lived under a system where somebody else dictated to you when, where, how and what type of religious service you can have — or not have — and I'm not going to come home to my country and call it the land of the free and the home of the brave and allow anyone to tell me, 'You can't have church this weekend,'" Leonard told the news source.
According to the Archdiocese for the Military Services, Catholic chaplains who provide religious services at military installations are employed as federal contractors, which means that their jobs are currently not exempt from furloughs during government shutdowns. The archdiocese added that there is currently a shortage of Catholic priests in the military, with only 234 active-duty priests serving 275,000 servicemembers.
Thanks to a $1.8 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the New Jersey Hospital Association will now be able to help uninsured Americans gain health care coverage while also providing employment opportunities for former servicemembers.
According to The Trentonian, the hospital association will use the grant to hire 25 veterans to counsel those interested in purchasing new health insurance plans under the Affordable Care Act. Created through a partnership between the NJHA and the N.J. Department of Labor, the new role of certified application counselor requires veterans to be placed at hospitals throughout the state.
"Because veterans offer a unique set of skills, discipline and leadership abilities developed during their years in the military, they are ideal candidates to fill the role of [certified application counselor] CACs," Aline Holmes, RN, director of the NJHA Institute for Quality and Patient Safety, told the news source.
Hiring veterans as CACs is the latest step New Jersey is taking to alleviate its high unemployment rate for veterans, which, at 10 percent, was the highest in the nation during 2012, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. Current data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the unemployment rate for veterans nationwide is currently 6.9 percent.
Following a heated debate, the Senate has postponed its vote on proposed legislation to curb sexual assault in the military.
The Military Justice Improvement Act was introduced in Congress as a way to improve the handling of sexual assault, abuse and discrimination in the military community. If passed, the bill would amend title 10 of the United States Code, which leaves the charging of sexual assault crimes up to military commanders under the current Uniform Code of Military Justice. While the bill was debated during the Senate's session last week as part of the discussion on the National Defense Authorization Act, The Huffington Post reported that the Senate went to Thanksgiving recess without voting on the legislation.
The bill was sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.). Both Sen. Gillibrand and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee and are looking to reform the way in which sexual assaults on military members are reported, charged and convicted, Mother Jones reported. Currently, military commanders have the final say whether a perpetrator of a sexual assault is charged, while commanding officers can overturn any sexual assault conviction.
More than 50 senators currently support the bill, including Sen. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Al Franken, The Huffington Post reported. The news source added that the Senate will take up the legislation following the Thanksgiving break.
A recent report by Military Times found that the defense budget has been increasing across the board since 2001, leading critics to question the Pentagon's claims that military and civilian personnel are the main cause of the spike in military spending.
According to the report, which used documents compiled by the Department of Defense and the White House, overall military spending increased 85 percent over the 11-year period, compared to the 78 percent increase of military and civilian personnel cost. When considering overseas operations, the total military budget increase is 104 percent.
Overall, the military and civilian personnel budget was only 24 percent of Pentagon spending in 2012, increasing by only 0.03 percent since 2001. The news source noted that this is a historically low percentage. For instance, military and civilian personnel accounted for more than 30 percent of the Pentagon's budget in 1991.
This report comes at a time when pay and allowances for active-duty troops are at their most vulnerable. According to The Wall Street Journal, top military officials have been considering making cuts to salaries, housing allowances and health care benefits as a way to reduce the defense spending budget.
"What we have asked these young men and women to do over the last 10 years, we can't pay them enough," Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said at a recent press conference, as quoted by the news source. "Having said that, we also have an institution to manage."
A group of Pennsylvania-area veterans have been volunteering their time to lay to rest late servicemembers with a proper military funeral.
Called the Guardians of the National Cemetery, the group of about 350 veterans arrange daily services at the Washington Crossing National Cemetery in Newton, Pa., for every former servicemember buried there. A daily honor guard composed of seven riflemen provide a 21-gun salute each day. The organization's members also serve as the sole witnesses at the burials of many late veterans, and dedicate a special Thursday ceremony each month to those who were laid to rest without family present.
"It's a remarkable outpouring of American patriotism and American citizenship and the sacrifice the veterans have brought to our community," Guardians of the National Cemetery founder and U.S. Army veteran Antonio Albano told the news source.
Established in 2008, the Guardians of the National Cemetery has interred nearly 6,000 veterans in the Pennsylvania cemetery, Albano stated to the news outlet. The organization's website notes that the guard's membership has been steadily increasing since 2009. Volunteers are recruited through various veterans service associations, and also accepts honorably discharged veterans who are not affiliated with an organization.
New legislation could grant Utah veterans who received either honorable or general discharge benefits and services from the state. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, the legislation was proposed during a meeting of the Utah Veterans Reintegration Task Force and was unanimously upheld by the committee. However, the bill will not be officially voted on until the state legislature resumes its session in January 2014.
According to the news source, the proposed changes would help make veterans benefits more consistent across the state's available services. For example, veterans applying to college can receive special preferences if they had an honorable or general discharge, while only servicemembers who were honorably discharged can have their skills test waived when requesting a commercial driver's license.
"By requiring a lot of [benefit qualifications] just be honorable, we're denying some of our military members benefits," Esther Cheslea-McCarty, the state's legislative associate general counsel, told the news source.
Utah is not the only state attempting to expand its benefits for veterans. The Winston-Salem Journal reported that North Carolina is increasing its cost of living benefits by 1.5 percent for disabled veterans and their children starting Jan. 1.
U.S. News & World Report recently released its rankings of the top colleges and universities for veterans for its 2014 edition of the U.S. News Best Colleges. While the index of the best universities and liberal arts colleges is released annually, this is the first time that the publication created a list of the best higher-education institutions for returning servicemembers.
To compile the inaugural index, the news outlet looked at the federal initiatives serving veterans at each college. Many of these programs, including the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, help former servicemembers apply and pay for continuing their education. In order to qualify for the rankings, the news outlet stated that the institutions had to be certified for the G.I. Bill, participate in the Yellow Ribbon Program and be a member of the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) Consortium.
Which universities came out on top? Pennsylvania State University – University Park claimed the No. 1 spot, while Tulane University in New Orleans came in at No. 2. The University of Texas – Austin, Syracuse University and Texas A&M University – College Station rounded out the top five.
Aside from best national universities, the index also ranked the top liberal arts colleges for veterans, with Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Penn., coming in at No. 1.
A new report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development found that veteran homelessness has decreased by 24 percent since 2010, a much higher drop than the mere 6 percent decrease of overall homelessness. There were nearly 58,000 homeless veterans in January 2013, with 60 percent of them staying in shelters or transitional housing programs. Only about 4,400 of the homeless veterans were women.
"We are on track in the fight to end homelessness among veterans" Secretary of Veteran Affairs Eric Shinseki said in a statement. "While this trend is encouraging news, we know that there is more work to do."
The Department of Veterans Affairs has been working to end veteran homelessness by 2015 through various programs. According to The Washington Post, the VA partnered with HUD to issue $70 million in grants for clinical services, case management and rental assistance for veterans. This week, the department also announced that $14 million in funding has been put toward renovating shelter for homeless veterans, as well as transportation services and funding for special groups, such as the elderly and mentally ill.
Veterans who are currently enrolled in VA health care are now eligible for dental insurance. The new health care program – VA Dental Insurance Program, or VADIP – launched its purchasing period Nov. 15, with coverage beginning Jan. 1, 2014, according to the department's website. Through the new system, interested individuals will be able to purchase dental insurance through MetLife and Delta Dental at a lower cost.
"This new dental program is another example of VA creating partnerships with the private sector to deliver a range of high-quality care at an affordable cost, for our nation's veterans," VA Secretary Eric Shinseki said in a statement.
Under the new dental insurance package, veterans will receive a variety of comprehensive services, including preventative, diagnostic, surgical and restorative treatment.
According to the VA, family members of veterans are not eligible to enroll in the plan unless they are currently covered by the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Veterans Affairs Department, or CHAMPVA. To be eligible for CHAMPVA, one must be the spouse or child of a veteran who is permanently disabled, or the surviving spouse or child of a veteran who passed away due to a permanent disability.
This week, the Department of Defense announced the launch of a new online program that will help servicemembers and veterans with traumatic brain injuries continue their higher education.
Developed by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, "Back to School: A Guide to Academic Success After Traumatic Brain Injury" is a comprehensive handbook that can be accessed through the center's website. The guide addresses various ways in which veterans and servicemembers with TBIs can return to school despite the difficulties of their physical and psychological symptoms, including chronic head pain, insomnia and an inability to concentrate.
"The idea of going back to school is not easy for anybody," Navy Lt. Cdr. Cathleen Shields, acting director of education at the center, said in a statement. "We find it's harder for servicemembers, [if they have] been deployed, because reacclimation is difficult. … Talk to your health-care team and your [school] adviser. Learn to be an advocate for yourself."
According to the DOD, a specially created panel of health, psychology and education experts devised the guide with the help of the Department of Veteran Affairs. A version of the handbook, which is more than 50 pages long, can also be printed via the center's website.