VFA in the Media

The New York Times: Survival Guide for Veterans

Editorial, December 19, 2008

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…

VFA on NPR: Jason Forrester on the Diane Rehm Show

Jason Forrester, VFA’s Director of Policy, joins guest host Frank Sesno on the Diane Rehm show for an examination of medical, mental health, and other needs of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the efforts to improve the…

Group: PA vets pay high price

By Brad Rhen, Lebanon Daily News

A report released Thursday by a veterans advocacy group claims Pennsylvania National Guard members have borne a “disproportionate share of the burden” of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But a Pennsylvania National Guard official said…

Stop Payment

The Atlantic, October 27, 2008

By Brian Mockenhaupt

This summer, Congress surprised me with an unexpected but welcome gift. A House subcommittee on defense appropriations had approved $500 for each month that a service member was retained under stop-loss, the policy by…

Guard support: Critique of services for Guard members offers some good ideas

Anchorage Daily News, October 17, 2008

Alaska Army National Guard members who are deployed overseas , as well as their families, deserve better support than they’re getting, but Tuesday’s report from the Veterans for America went overboard with its criticism of…

Vets critical of Palin’s national guard leadership

By Candace Heckman, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Oct. 2, 2008

Thursday’s the night conservative America has been waiting for. The night where many hope Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be able to prove to detractors and doubters that she has the chops to…

VFA’s Bobby Muller: Transformed By a Bullet From Marine to Peace Activist

The Humanitarian: Bobby Muller
A bullet transformed him from bad-ass Marine to peace activist. A Vietnam vet triumphs over his disability and educates others.

By: Cecilia Capuzzi Simon, Psychology Today

When he was a young soldier fighting in the Vietnam War, says Bobby…

Outside View: De-mythologizing the surge

William C. Danvers, UPI

The surge of 33,000 U.S. troops last year in Iraq is a focal point of the foreign policy debate between the two presidential candidates. Advocates say it is solely responsible for the improved security situation in Iraq…

Wooster soldier involuntarily kept in Army under its controversial ’stop-loss’ program

Sabrina Eaton, The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)

WASHINGTON — Army Spc. Justin Sheeter of Wooster would like extra pay for the extra time he’s had to spend in Afghanistan fixing trucks for the 101st Airborne Divison.

Although his enlistment was supposed to…

After the Battle, Fighting the Bottle at Home

Lizette Alvarez, the New York Times

Most nights when Anthony Klecker, a former marine, finally slept, he found himself back on the battlefields of Iraq. He would awake in a panic, and struggle futilely to return to sleep.

Days were scarcely better.…