A 94-year-old World War II veteran and POW labor camp survivor was honored with several medals of distinction this week at a ceremony at Tulsa International Airport, The Associated Press reported.
According to the news source, Phillip Coon, a resident of Sapulpa, Okla., served in the Army as an infantry machine gunner. During the war, he was stationed in the Pacific, fighting in the Philippines and surviving the infamous Bataan Death March. Coon was sent to a POW camp in Kosaka, Japan, and recently visited the site to strengthen understanding among Japanese and U.S. citizens, the news outlet reported.
"I've been blessed to come this far in life," Coon said during the ceremony. "I thank the Lord for watching over me."
Coon received the Prisoner of War Medal, the Combat Infantryman Badge and a Bronze Star for his service. According to the news source, Coon was long overdue for these honors, and it remains uncertain why he had not received them earlier. David Rule, a Tulsa-based veteran who has helped more than 150 veterans receive their service distinctions, told the news outlet that he helped Coon secure his deserved honors.
The Medals of America states that any servicemember that was captured and held prisoner while on active duty after 1917 is eligible to receive the Prisoner of War Medal.
A program dedicated to providing housing for homeless veterans is now searching for shelter of its own after a city council denied the program a moving permit, The Daily Press reported.
Formerly housed on property owned by the Hampton VA. , the Salvation Army of the Virginia Peninsula's Veterans Transitional Housing Program was forced to relocate after the VA building was demolished due to inhabitable conditions. According to the news source, program officials were looking to settle in an extended-stay hotel. However, a law passed by the city forbids hotel stays that are longer than 30 days, and the Salvation Army program tends to house veterans for up to six months, according to its website.
Transitional housing is used as an "in-between" residence for veterans who are struggling to secure permanent housing or employment, states the organization's website. Transitional housing centers are located in nearly every state and are federally funded.
The Salvation Army Transitional Housing Program was Virginia's largest such resource for former servicemembers. Now that the program remains in suspension, many are worried what will happen to the former servicemembers who are currently without permanent shelter.
"If the Salvation Army can't become operational in the very near future, the program will cease to exist," program director David Wall told new news outlet.
When the health insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act opened Oct. 1, veterans were introduced to a slew of new insurance options.
Writing in a Op-Ed for Dallas Weekly, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson outlined the ways in which the health care overhaul will provide veterans with unprecedented benefits. Although veterans who are currently covered under the VA medical plans do not have to re-enroll in a new health insurance plan, Johnson wrote that the Affordable Care Act offers veterans many health care alternatives.
"Veterans may also choose to enroll in Marketplace options provided by the Affordable Care Act that could lower the cost of their health insurance," Johnson wrote. "Uninsured spouses of veterans who do not have access to VA benefits can also enter the Marketplace to access quality health insurance with eligibility for financial assistance."
According to Johnson, 1.3 million non-elderly veterans are currently uninsured. Veterans who are uninsured and qualify for Medicaid can receive insurance through the state's Medicaid expansion, which is a new provision under the Affordable Care Act, Johnson stated.
Veterans who are currently uninsured can apply for either VA insurance benefits or marketplace health insurance at any time, according to the VA website.
A new monument erected in San Antonio will honor U.S. military service dogs that died in combat overseas while aiding servicemembers, The Associated Press reported. A dedication ceremony for the U.S. Working Dog Teams National Monument is slated for the end of October at the nearby Lackland Air Force Base, where a majority of military service dogs are trained and treated when injured.
The news source stated that the memorial, which depicts four dogs and a military dog handler, was designed by John Burnam, a former military dog trainer. A Doberman, Labrador retriever, German shepherd and Belgian Malinois are the breeds featured on the monument because of their prevalence in the military.
According to the Department of Defense, military working dogs first entered the ranks during World War I. The Army used about 1,500 canines during the Korean War, while the Vietnam War saw nearly 4,000 dogs in combat. The most famous military working dogs in recent years are members of the Navy Seals "elite dog team" – a group that can parachute or rappel into combat. Discovery.com reported that these dogs are equipped with ballistic gear and night-vision cameras and work with the Seals on special operations.
Although the 16-day government shutdown is over, veterans might face lingering obstacles when filing their disability claims. According to CNN, the shutdown interrupted the processing of the disability claims backlog, which has been accumulating at the Department of Veterans Affairs for several years.
Earlier this year, the VA devised a plan to eliminate the backlog by 2015 through mandating overtime processing, according to the agency's website. The plan applies to claims that have been sitting unanswered for more than 125 days – the VA's average response waiting period.
While the VA's claims processors were not furloughed during the government shutdown, the overtime processing was canceled due to the lack of federal funds, according to the news outlet. Now, veterans might once again face a longer wait.
The news source reported that VA Secretary Eric Shinseki testified during an October congressional hearing with the Committee House Committee on Veterans Affairs that the shutdown will greatly affect the rate of claims processing and increase the backlog.
"We are no longer making the significant gains we have made in recent months toward eliminating the backlog in claims," Shinseki said during the hearing.
According to the VA's website, the agency has processed a record-high 1 million disability claims in the last three years, and nearly 4 million veterans rely on the VA for disability benefits.
Following a bipartisan compromise in the Senate, President Obama signed legislation Oct. 16 officially ending the federal shutdown. According to a statement released by the Pentagon, that means about 4,000 civilian Defense Department employees who remained on furlough can return to work this week.
The Pentagon also stated that the legislation requires that all furloughed employees receive the payments they missed during the shutdown.
While half of the Department of Defense's civilian employees – about 400,000 total – were initially furloughed Oct. 1, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel recalled most of the workers the following week after Congress passed legislation that appropriated funds for active-duty military personnel. Hagel took a liberal interpretation of the law, expanding it to include a majority of civilian defense employees, The Associated Press reported at the time. However, there was some confusion about the law among Defense Department civilians.
"I saw it on the news, that our boss Chuck Hagel had called us back, so I assumed he was talking about me," Mike Ferrigno, a facilities management specialist working in public works for the Navy, told CNN. "I was one of the only ones in the office that first day."
According to the Pentagon, the newly passed legislation will keep the federal government open through Jan. 15, while the debt limit is raised through Feb. 7.
Vice Adm. Harry Harris Jr. was promoted to commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet this week, the Military Times reported. Harris will replace Adm. Cecil Haney, who recently stepped down from the Pacific Fleet to preside over the U.S. Strategic Command in Nebraska.
Since the change in command comes in the midst of the federal shutdown, adjustments have been made to the standard protocol. While a ceremony is still scheduled to take place at Pearl Harbor, which is the Pacific Fleet headquarters, the chief of naval operations is unable to attend and no programs will be handed out at the event, the news source reported. Taking the chief of naval operations' place is U.S. Pacific Command commander Adm. Samuel Locklear.
According to the U.S. Navy's official website, Harris previously served as the assistant to the chairman of the joint chief of staff, as well as chief speechwriter. Born in Japan, Harris has completed graduate studies at attended Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Georgetown's School of Foreign Service, and Oxford University, and served three tours in various positions on the Navy staff, logging more than 4,400 flight hours – 400 of which were during combat.
Although the federal government might be nearing the end of its shutdown, a considerable amount of damage has already been done to both the Defense Department and the military community at large, causing former defense leaders to express their concern.
According to The New York Times, former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta outlined the seriousness of the federal shutdown at a recent meeting with reporters organized by The Wall Street Journal.
"You take 70 percent of our intelligence people and furlough them, you're seriously damaging our ability to gain the kind of intelligence that we need to gain in order to be able to know what's going on in the world," Panetta said during the meeting. "This is not necessary. This isn't the result of a crisis; it's not the result of a war. … This is all self-inflicted."
Panetta added that the military's readiness has been negatively impacted since the shutdown began, the news source reported. The former director of the Central Intelligence Agency also criticized the current battle over health care.
Since Oct. 1, numerous military programs and veterans benefits have been suspended, such as tuition assistance, reported Inside Higher Education. Other benefits, including death gratuity payments to the families of fallen soldiers, were initially halted until restored through legislation drafted by Congress.
Since the government shutdown has barred non-military Catholic chaplains and priests from military installations, thousands of Catholic servicemembers had to go without mass and other religious services. Now, a Catholic priest has sued that federal government for being denied base access, CNN reported.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in a federal district court by Father Ray Leonard, claims that his First Amendment rights have been violated. According to the news source, Leonard is a newly contracted civilian employee who was scheduled to begin his religious duties at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in Georgia Oct. 1. While thousands of civilian Defense Department employees have been recalled by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel since the start of the shutdown, Catholic clergy who provide their services to military bases remain on furlough, the news outlet stated.
News broke that non-active duty Catholic clergy were blocked from accessing military bases shortly after the shutdown began when John Schlageter, General Counsel of the Archdiocese for the Military Services, published an Op-Ed on the organization's official website. Schlageter wrote that Catholic priests and chaplains were subject to arrests if they entered a military base during the shutdown.
Schlageter added that there is currently a shortage of active-duty Catholic priests, who compose only 8 percent of the chaplain corps.
In the midst of the ongoing government shutdown, a coalition of 33 military and veterans organizations is staging a rally at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. to highlight the effects the federal closure has had on the military community, the Army Times reported.
The Military Coalition will hold the rally and news conference Oct. 15 to discuss the various veterans and military programs that ceased due to the shutdown, such as survivor payments, G.I. Bill benefits and disability checks, according to the news source.
Another major point of interest for the coalition is the Department of Veterans Affairs disability claims and appeals backlog, which is expected to increase because of the cancelation of the agency's overtime processing, The Wall Street Journal reported.
"The shutdown has been devastating for the nation's military readiness and for the veterans, service members, families and survivors in the uniformed services community," the coalition said in an announcement.
Representatives of the American Legion, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and the National Military Family Association are slated to speak at the event, among others.
The Military Coalition represents about 5.5 million servicemembers, veterans and their families, and frequently testifies on Capitol Hill on the behalf of its members, according to the organization's website.