Veterans For America

The American Veterans’ and Servicemembers’ Survival Guide — VFA’s newest survival book for veterans that is free to download on our website — is a “powerful updating” of the earlier edition, according to today’s New York Times. According to today’s Times‘ editorial: “Far too often, military veterans find themselves desperately short of the information they need as they make the torturous quest for benefits within one of this country’s most daunting bureaucracies, the Department of Veterans Affairs. Officials say help is on the way, but administrators are forever promising to streamline procedures for an era of conquered paperwork that never seems to come. That is why it is heartening to see that one promising form of help has indeed arrived: a 599-page guide to veterans’ issues, from educational help to vocational rehabilitation, from housing to citizenship.” It is a guide to help our troops survive…at home, says Bobby Muller. It’s a real salute to our troops, not merely a gesture. VFA is extremely proud of its latest survival guide — published a generation after the seminal, best-selling, original edition was issued –  and hopes everyone who can this Holiday Season pitches in to help ensure free copies are printed for as many veterans as possible.

Gen. Raymond Odierno, the top US general in Iraq, gives his take on what our exit from Iraq will look like, and when will it be complete. Does that jibe with the status of forces agreement we signed with the Iraqis? Does it even sync with President-elect Barack Obama’s plan? Here are the top 10 reasons for not establishing military bases in Iraq. Now-and-future Defense Secretary Robert Gates hopes military commanders will share their views of the war in Iraq with the president-elect — something they may not have had the opportunity to do with the current president. For the sixth straight year, Iraq is the deadliest place for journalists. Meanwhile our supply lines to Afghanistan, the genuine front in the war against those who plotted the 9/11 attacks, continue to be at risk inside Pakistan and the president of Afghanistan has a list of demands on US troop conduct.

Two ongoing wars are straining our military straight through the active duty ranks and deeply into the Guard and Reserves, with near constant deployments of our citizen-Soldiers to support active operations — including in Africa. All the while, needs remain on the homefront for our citizen-Soldiers. This creates a pile of problems for our Guard members and their families — and it is still illegal to fire Guard members from their civilian jobs simply because they’re deploying. 

A PTSD clinic is coming to Fort Stewart…Can treatment be helped by a little pill?

Is retired Adm. Dennis Blair poised to become President-elect Barack Obama’s director of national intelligence?