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.
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.
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.
In the midst of the current shutdown struggle, the Department of Defense announced new changes to its administration and the military community at large. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel revealed in a statement that Ash Carter is resigning from his post as Deputy Secretary of Defense, effective Dec. 4.
According to the Pentagon, Hagel met with Carter the morning of Oct. 10 to approve his resignation. The defense secretary thanked Carter for his service, which began at the start of the Obama administration as the undersecretary of defense for acquisition technology and logistics, increasing the agency's buying power and fortifying its protection on growing security issues, such as cyber attacks.
"His compassion, love, and determination to overcome any and all bureaucratic obstacles earned him abiding respect and appreciation," Hagel said in his statement. "I am confident that the Department, and the country, will continue to benefit from Ash Carter's service in the months and years ahead."
As deputy secretary of defense, Carter most recently led the investigation of the Washington Naval Yard shooting in September. Before joining the Defense Department, he worked in academia, overseeing the International and Global Affairs faculty at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
If the federal shutdown is not resolved by the end of the month, wounded veterans might not receive their benefits come Nov. 1, according to NBC News. These benefits include compensation checks rewarded to more than 5 million former servicemembers, many of whom were wounded in combat.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki told the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, a congressional oversight committee, during a hearing Oct. 9 that the compensation checks were in danger, the news source reported. Shinseki added that the ongoing shutdown might jeopardize more than 400,000 disabled veterans and roughly 360,000 surviving military spouses and their children, leaving them without the payments they need to live. The 500,000 veterans going to college on the G.I. Bill will also have their tuition assistance frozen.
"I don't want to be alarmist, but I want to speak for the veterans who are looking in on this [hearing]," Shinseki said during his testimony. "Not only do we have a large number of beneficiaries that are looking for those checks, I have veterans myself that I employ – a third, over 100,000 veterans. A number of them are going to be subject to furlough."
However, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., question the VA's handling of the federal shutdown during the hearing, citing the spending of $1 million on TV ads to promote the agency and several discrepancies in the VA's announcements of its proposed contingency plans, according to the news outlet.
After news broke that the federal shutdown halted the issuance of military death benefits to the families of fallen soldiers, outrage spread throughout the nation and all the way to the U.S. House of Representatives.
According to USA Today, the House drafted a bill earlier this week to restore the death benefits despite the ongoing shutdown. The measure passed unanimously Oct. 9 and is currently awaiting a vote in the Senate. However, the future of the death benefits still remains in the balance.
At Dover Air Force Base Tuesday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel delivered a speech that expressed his disappointment in the federal government, the news source reported.
"I am offended, outraged and embarrassed that the government shutdown had prevented the Department of Defense from fulfilling this sacred responsibility in a timely manner," Hagel told the gathered crowd.
The Pentagon announced in a release last week that the death benefits, along with numerous other military programs and benefits, would be frozen until the government shutdown is resolved. Although the death benefits have yet to be restored, military families might be able to receive the $100,000 payments thanks to the nonprofit Fisher House Foundation, which donated funds to help cover the remittance, according to the news outlet.
The University of Southern California's Sol Price School of Public Policy held a conference this week to highlight the pertinent issues affecting servicemembers who are returning from war and attempting to enter into the workforce. According to the Daily Trojan, veteran homelessness, high unemployment rates and were among the topics discussed.
In his opening speech, Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and current USC professor Gen. David Petraeus emphasized that veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan need the nation's support, the news source reported.
"The post-9/11 veterans have come to be deservedly recognized as the new greatest generation," Petraeus said. "While our country continues to provide support for our veterans and their families, we can and we should do more, and I know that those here share that conviction."
President and co-founder of Team Rubicon Jacob Wood, who is also a former Marine, was a keynote speaker at the event, along with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. Garcetti focused on Angeleno veterans and how the city's VA office is not doing enough to assist them with their benefits. The mayor told the audience that veterans in Los Angeles wait an average 377 days for a response from the VA office.
He also suggested that USC students can become more involved in aiding veterans by reaching out through hotlines and other resources.