Members of the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 11 introduced legislation that would end the Selective Service System, reported The Wall Street Journal. This proposal comes amidst controversy surrounding the decision by Defense Secretary Ash Carter to open all combat positions in the U.S. military to women.
Reps. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., Jared Polis, D-Colo. and Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., sponsored the bill.
"Now that women are eligible to serve in combat roles and Congress debates how to proceed on the issue of draft inclusion, we should consider a full repeal of the draft and the abolition of the Selective Service," Coffman said in an interview with the newspaper.
Confronting controversy
Carter's decision in December forced Defense Department officials and legislators to reevaluate long-established military practices, including conscription. The Selective Service System currently requires male citizens and permanent residents 18-25 years of age to register.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., both veterans, proposed separate legislation earlier this month that would make women subject to conscription, reported The Washington Post. According to its authors, the bill was merely symbolic – a legislative protest against Carter's unilateral decision to open all combat positions to women.
"If this Administration wants to send 18-20 year old women into combat, to serve and fight on the front lines, then the American people deserve to have this discussion through their elected representatives," Hunter said in a statement. "This discussion should have occurred before decision making of any type, but the fact that it didn't now compels Congress to take a honest and thorough look at the issue."
Hunter plans to vote against his own legislation.
According to NPR, top military officials have mixed views on the issue. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee during a recent hearing he would support legislation requiring women to register for the draft. Gen. Robert Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, said he would also support such a change.
Navy Secretary Ray Mabus was less certain and called for more discussion on the matter.
"This needs to be looked at as part of a national debate, given the changed circumstances," he said.
A different conversation
Coffman and his co-sponsors on the bill to drop the draft are steering clear of the women-in-combat controversy altogether and addressing the Selective Service System on its own merits. He believes the concept of conscription itself is antiquated. Additionally, selective service enrollment is required for many government employment and loan programs which means those who don't sign up miss out valuable economic resources.
"Not only will abolishing the selective service save the U.S. taxpayers money, it will remove an undue burden on our nation's young people," DeFazio told The Wall Street Journal. "We haven't utilized the draft since 1973, yet young men who don't register for the selective service are still penalized by the U.S. government, particularly with regards to their federal student loans."
Selective service costs over $20 million each year.
Many veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder may find themselves in trouble with the authorities for a variety of reasons, and experts say that simply sending them to jail can set them back in their recovery process. Now, a U.S. lawmaker is looking to help deal with that issue.
The Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act, introduced by U.S. Senator Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, would help set up Veterans Treatment Courts that would put former service members through an intensive recovery program after they are convicted, rather than sending them to jail, according to a report from the Columbus Dispatch. The bill recently passed committee hearings with unanimous support, and is now on its way to passing Congress.
"I think we should get it on the House floor relatively soon and with the support it has from both sides, I think we can get it on the president's desk," Portman told the newspaper.
This is one of many things that can be done at the local, state, or federal level to help veterans deal with the often invisible scars they carry after returning from service.
After service, veterans are typically entitled to a number of military benefits through the VA. However, many don't actually end up collecting them for one reason or another, and now a new group in California exists specifically to help them in this regard.
In Napa Valley, California, a group called Vet Connect gets together every month to help educate other former service members about the benefits to which they are entitled, according to a report from the Napa Valley Register. This is important work because, of the 11,000 or so veterans in the county, fewer than 1 in 5 are getting any such benefits at all.
"There are things available, probably things they didn't even realize," Larry Jackson, a Vietnam veteran who volunteers his time every month to help out with the event, told the newspaper. "I didn't know anything was available for 30 or 40 years. I didn't think anybody even cared."
The more veterans can do to understand the benefits they should be receiving, the better off they're going to be in terms of dealing with some of the common problems they and others like them may run into.
The U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 9 passed a handful of veterans bills, reported the Military Times. The legislation addresses education, health and regulatory issues impacting former members of the military.
VA reform continues
In May 2014, federal investigators discovered that administrators at the Department of Veterans Affairs had manipulated waiting lists at a veterans medical center in Phoenix to cover up abnormally long wait times, reported The New York Times. As many as 1,700 patients failed to receive treatment as a result. This revelation set off a nationwide controversy over the department's seemingly mangled inner workings. Further investigations uncovered widespread internal disarray. Approximately 57,000 veterans had been waiting for treatment for at least three months and another 64,000 had never even seen a doctor despite requesting appointments for a decade.
Legislators promised to address the issue.
"It's time to put the partisanship aside and focus on what's right for our veterans," Sen. John Walsh of Montana told The Times.
In August 2014, President Barack Obama signed into law the Veterans' Access to Care through Choice, Accountability and Transparency Act which gave the VA $16 billion to overhaul its infrastructure, reported Politico.
On Feb. 9, the House added to the 2014 reform bill by passing an additional measure that would enable federal entities like the Army Corps of Engineers to oversee large-scale VA construction projects, reported The Times. According to Stars and Stripes, the VA is currently managing ongoing projects totaling $100 million. The House passed another bill that would require the department to assign specialized administrative teams to medical facilities that fail to meet regulatory expectations.
Addressing health concerns
According to the Los Angeles Times, legislators put through a piece of legislation that would fund suicide prevention programs for female veterans. The bill was designed to complement the Clay Hunt SAV Act, a 2015 law that requires the VA to periodically review its mental health guidelines. It would also require the VA and other government agencies to develop special mental health standards for veterans who took on classified combat roles.
"This is an important first step," Rep. Julia Brownley of California, the bill's sponsor, said in an interview with the paper. "It's pretty simple and straightforward, but it's also a really important direction that the VA needs to go in."
The House addressed benefits disbursement, passing legislation that would automate veterans' cost-of-living adjustments.
Improvements to the GI bill
Representatives passed another bill that would require higher education programs eligible for payment under the GI bill to obtain state accreditation and report on veteran enrollment.
"I strongly believe that we should take whatever steps necessary to simplify the veterans' education benefits our service members earned," Rep. Ken Calvert of California, the bill's sponsor, said in a statement.
A VA program that is supposed to help veterans obtain low-cost health care may be so backed up that it cannot pay doctors on time. As a consequence, many veterans are now being hit with medical bills they cannot afford, and as such taking major damage on their credit scores.
The VA's Veterans Choice program, which is supposed to give former servicemembers access to the physicians they want to see, is instead causing major credit problems, according to a report from the Military Times. Because of the delayed payments many may face when they seek treatment from non-VA doctors, the bills are passed on to patients themselves. And when they're not paid, they're sent to collections, potentially bringing a veteran's score down by more than 100 points.
"Now this veteran has damaged health and damaged credit due to the VA," Ruiz said during a House Veterans' Affairs subcommittee hearing. "This damage that veterans suffer due to the VA's reimbursement system is irreparable and unacceptable."
For its part, the VA says that about 7 in 10 doctor's visits have their bills paid within 30 days, the report said. However, it should be noted that this is in comparison with a rate of 99 percent of visits being taken care of within the same time period via Medicaid, so the VA still has some catching up to do in that regard. This fact was also covered in a recent audit of the VA, which found the government organization does not have sufficient "program controls" to operate effectively.
This is certainly an issue veterans will need to monitor closely, as their decisions around use of the Veterans Choice program could have a major impact on a number of aspects of their lives.
Many organizations exist to help veterans re-acclimate themselves to civilian life once again when they get out of the service. However, one such group that recently launched may be unique in its offerings to soldiers who are trying to get back on their feet.
The gaming nonprofit Stack-Up.org recently partnered with the founder of virtual reality platform Oculus and creator of the popular indie game DayZ, as a means of helping more veterans through these methods, according to a report from the group. Dean Hall, the creator of DayZ, is actually a veteran as well, having served as an officer in both the Army and Air Force for his native New Zealand.
"As a veteran myself, it's fantastic to see organizations like Stack-Up supporting the next generation of veterans through a common love of video games," Hall said. "Gaming offers a unique opportunity to relieve the stresses, tensions, and social challenges of being separated from your friends and family while on deployment. Stephen's work has been making a very real difference in the lives of many veterans all around the world and I'm really excited to be able to support that."
Meanwhile, Palmer Luckey is the founder of Oculus and designer of its popular Rift VR headset, and said that he wants to make sure there is a community of gamers out there to help support veterans and current servicemembers whenever they need it, the report said. To that end, both he and Hall have joined Stack-Up.org's advisory board.
The more that any organization can do to make soldiers and veterans feel more secure in their situations, the better off those current and former service members will be in the long run. Likewise, those people can reach out to such organizations to get help when they need it.
The National Park Service may limit the number of items it gathers from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, reported The Associated Press. The department plans to keep only items associated with veterans listed on the memorial.
"By refining the scope of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Collection, we can ensure that our energy and resources will preserve items with a direct and specific relationship to veterans of the Vietnam War," Gay Vietzke, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, told Reuters.
According to Statista, around four million people visit the monument every year.
The park service has been collecting items left at the monument since 1982, reported PBS. It stores them in the Museum Resource Center in Washington D.C. Over the years, the department has collected over 500,000 items from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, including a customized Harley-Davidson motorcycle, military decorations and thousands of personal notes.
"It really is a very unique collection – and a vast majority of these items are left anonymously," Bob Sonderman, director and regional curator of the Museum Resource Center, said in an interview with the news organization.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is currently raising funds to build a new storage facility for the items. The space, called The Education Center at The Wall, will cost over $100 million. According to its architects, the building will not only showcase some of the items but also contain portraits for each of the more than 58,000 combat veterans memorialized on the Vietnam monument and an interactive timeline of the war.
In August of last year, the National Park Service also created a virtual collection of 500 items left behind at the memorial.
The park service is now accepting public comments on the proposed changes to its item-collection policy. The deadline is March 10.
On Feb. 9, the Obama administration released its 2017 budget proposal, reported The New York Times. The spending blueprint calls for an additional $75.1 billion in funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs. The total proposed budget for the VA amounts to $178.7 billion, a 5 percent increase over the department's budget for the 2016 fiscal year.
Congress must still approve the plan. According to Stars and Stripes, the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs was scheduled to hold its fist hearing on the proposal Feb. 10.
The budget plan includes frameworks for improving the VA's much-maligned internal processes. Approximately $46.2 million is earmarked for an initiative to modernize the benefit claims process. The administration plans to hire an additional 242 full-time VA employees and purchase new technology to streamline the system.
"Unfortunately, under current law today, the VA appeals framework is not serving the needs of our veterans," the administration said in a news release. "The current process – which has built up over the past 80 years – is complex, ineffective and opaque."
The proposal sets aside $7.2 billion for outside health programs and $1.6 billion for programs for homeless veterans. In 2009 former Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki made a pledge to end homelessness among veterans by 2015. Though the department failed to achieve this goal, it has made strides in combating the problem. With federal aid, cities like Phoenix have successfully housed all of their formerly homeless veterans, reported The New York Times. And, under the Obama administration, homelessness among veterans has fallen by 32 percent, reported PolitiFact. The budget also calls for $65 million to fund over 1,000 VA medical facilities across the country. These sites serve an estimated 9 million veterans.
For some time now, the Professional Golf Association has made it a goal to assist wounded veterans in getting back to 100 percent, both physically and mentally. As a result, its PGA HOPE Veteran Clinic that recently ended continues to be a major success.
The eight-week HOPE program (which stands for "Helping Our Patriots Everywhere") brings veterans to the golf course and to get lessons for free. The effort has gone over very well, bringing thousands of veterans physical, social, and mental work they might not have had otherwise, according to a report from CBS 12. The "graduation" ceremony even features tournaments, surprises, and gifts for participants.
"The graduation isn't the end of our involvement with these brave men and women, as PGA Golf Club will offer continuing programming to all graduates," PGA Golf Club general manager Jimmy Terry told the station.
These kinds of programs, created with the assistance of organizations large and small, go a long way toward helping veterans deal with the lingering issues they often have after service, and help to put them back on the path to leading a normal, happy life.
Many companies across the country make a point to hire veterans as part of their business model, because they know how beneficial it can be to both parties. However, there is one car service in New York City that takes it a step further: It hires veterans exclusively to be its drivers.
The relatively new firm, called Capstar, was actually started in London, but has since come across the Atlantic, and has a goal of hiring only veterans to drive its vehicles, according to a report from ABC 7 Chicago. These veterans often have driving experience – operating massive vehicles – that others simply do not, and the work they do in the service can help to inform their habits afterward as well.
"When you have an ex-soldier or sailor that turns up to to drive, you know that they will have done their route recon the night before, they'll be there 30 minutes early, their uniform will be impeccable, the car will be spotless, they'll be polite, discreet, reliable, all the things you want in that service," Capstar's Casey Martinez told the station.
Veterans who can obtain a good job after they leave the service often get a lot out of that work, usually more than civilians filling the same job might.