You are currently browsing the GWOT - the Global War on Terrorism blog, by the Jewish War Veterans weblog archives for September, 2009.
- job opportunities (7)
- JWV (15)
- links (1)
- Uncategorized (84)
- Veterans Business Opportunities (3)
- February 24, 2010: Disabled veterans' firms get a boost from California
- February 20, 2010: Army study explores deployment stress on soldiers' children
- February 17, 2010: U.S. Troops at Lowest Level in Iraq Since 2003 Invasion
- February 13, 2010: National Defense Week
- February 3, 2010: VA claims expected to take longer in 2011
- February 3, 2010: VA wants emergency GI Bill payouts back
- January 28, 2010: National Defense Week
- January 25, 2010: VA slips slightly in deployment of GI bill claims system
- January 20, 2010: Delays continue for Post-9/11 GI Bill students
- January 12, 2010: Poll: 7 in 10 Afghans support US forces
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
Archive for September 2009
Homeowner assistance program begins today
September 30, 2009 by admin.
Posted : Wednesday Sep 30, 2009 8:12:16 EDT A program to help military homeowners caught in the downturn of the housing market can start processing applications Wednesday, sources said, with the scheduled publication of the implementing rules in the Federal Register.About 4,300 homeowners have already applied for assistance under the expanded Homeowners Assistance Program, which was signed into law Feb. 17 with $555 million in funding. Eligible are people on permanent change-of-station orders, wounded warriors, surviving spouses and those affected by base realignment and closure actions.Wounded warriors and surviving spouses receive priority in the program, although about 98 percent of the applications received so far have been in the PCS category.The Army Corps of Engineers, which runs the program, has been increasing staff and preparing to start processing applications. Some service members have said that HAP officials have been doing initial reviews of their applications, asking for more information, to further prepare in advance.But the primary issue that has held up the program for six months still looms: Homeowners who receive benefits under the expanded HAP will have to pay taxes, and the taxes will be withheld upfront. Recently introduced legislation that would fix the problem and make the benefits tax-exempt is still pending.For now, the tax requirement will limit the number of people who can be helped, because service members who are “upside-down” on their mortgages — those who owe more on their mortgages than the sale price of their homes — would not have enough money to take to the table to close the sale.Defense officials have been exploring options that could help these service members.Each individual’s situation will be different, and service members will have to decide what is best for their circumstances.If they qualify for the program, those who have already sold their homes at a loss can be reimbursed for part of the loss, minus the tax withholding.The program is retroactive for those who received PCS orders on or after Feb. 1, 2006. Homeowners affected by PCS or base closure actions must have purchased homes before July 1, 2006. Additional eligibility requirements will be included in the final rules.Although there still will be a 30-day comment period on the implementing regulations in the Federal Register, the Corps of Engineers will be able to process applications starting the day of publication.The tax issue is out of the Defense Department’s hands, and the Office of Management and Budget and the Internal Revenue Service had tried to come up with a resolution. Assistance under the original HAP, created to help those affected by base closure actions, is not taxed. But that tax exclusion was not written into the provision that expanded the program.
By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »
VA says it has processed less than half of GI bill education benefits
September 24, 2009 by admin.
09/23/2009
The Veterans Affairs Department said on Wednesday that it has processed less than half of the pending education benefits claims veterans are entitled to under the post 9/11 GI bill claims, and veteran groups expressed serious concerns students will not be able to pay their rent next month and colleges will need to wait for tuition payments.
The department has paid more than 61,000 benefits claims totaling $50 million since August, according to a statement. VA also said it processed 503,000 claims totaling $1 billion for other education benefit programs during the same period.
But VA told Nextgov that it still must process another 72,329 claims for post-9/11 GI bill benefits, with 60,071 eligibility determinations and 12,258 enrollment certifications. The department has a total of 172,662 education claims pending, which includes the new GI bill claims as well as other education programs.
VA said since May it has received 277,000 applications from veterans for certificates of eligibility or school enrollment certifications under the new GI bill, which greatly expanded the tuition and housing payments granted to veterans to pay for college under the old GI bill. VA said it has sent certificates to fewer than 200,000 veterans.
The Veterans Benefits Administration, in its latest weekly report, showed it had 268,083 items related to education benefits pending as of Sept. 21, down 11.3 percent from the previous week, but about four times the 64,700 items that were backed up a year ago. VA estimates 20 percent to 25 percent of the pending items are actual claims for education expenses and the remaining items involved other tasks, such as an inquiry about the status of a claim.
As of last week, VA had made 33,000 housing and stipend payments valued at $16 million and issued more than 20,000 payments to schools for tuition and fees for veterans under the post-9/11 GI bill.
The department’s GI bill Web site reported the average processing time for claims — including those under the new bill, the older Montgomery GI bill and other education programs — averages 56 days. VA officials said it takes an average of 35 days to process post-9/11 GI bill claims, but added the processing time increased by an unspecified number of days when the fall semester began at colleges and universities.
“Our top priority is providing our students and schools with accurate and timely benefit payments so veterans can focus all of their energy on studies,” said Patrick Dunne, undersecretary for benefits.
Despite the optimistic report, student veterans groups expressed concern that their checks would not be in the mail in time to cover tuition payments or housing expenses, as outlined in the GI bill.
Brian Hawthorne, who served two tours as an Army medic in Iraq and is the legislative director of Student Veterans of America, said he found it “heartening to see that the money is moving, and the extraordinary efforts that the VA is undertaking to ensure that student veterans are being paid.”
But Hawthorne, a senior at The George Washington University, also expressed concern that some schools and veterans will not receive payments from VA in a timely fashion. Under the GI bill, VA pays tuition and fees to colleges and universities directly and sends a housing allowance and stipend, which runs about $1,900 a month in the District of Columbia, to veterans. The first housing checks for the fall semester are due next month. Summer school students should have received housing allowance checks for August in September.
Student Veterans of America continues to receive reports from veterans that they have not received payments for housing and from schools that they haven’t received checks for tuition. “This is obviously a serious problem, but can also be expected with a new program,” Hawthorne said.
Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans for Foreign Wars, also continues to be concerned for veterans who have yet to receive their checks. “The VA is working very hard to meet the anticipated avalanche of claims, but the increase in claims processing time is having a negative impact on student veterans,” he said.
Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., and the ranking member of the House VA Committee, said in a statement, “The VA should have asked Congress for additional resources to ensure veterans and schools received their payments in a timely manner. Not once during the five oversight hearings held by the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee since passage of the new program did VA mention needing additional resources for implementation.”
The Student Veterans of America has urged schools that have not received payments to allow veterans to remain in class. If veterans do not receive their housing allowance next month, the group has asked schools “to make emergency loans available so as to not disrupt the veteran’s lifestyle, with the understanding that the full faith and credit of the U.S. government is behind these payments, and that the money will arrive,” Hawthorne said.
While schools can afford to be more accommodating to student veterans, payments to “landlords, grocers, gas stations and other essential cost-of-living expenses don’t stop,” Davis said. “The VA has to do a better job of expediting claims processing and payments.”
Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »
McHugh confirmed as Army secretary
September 21, 2009 by admin.
After weeks of delay, the Senate Wednesday confirmed Rep. John McHugh, R-N.Y., as Army secretary. The vote was by unanimous consent.
McHugh’s confirmation came on the same day that Kansas Republican Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback lifted their hold on his nomination over concerns that the Obama administration would move detainees held at the facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the maximum-security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Brownback and Roberts released the hold after getting assurances from Defense Department officials that “detainees will not be transferred to Fort Leavenworth,” they said.
McHugh, first elected to the House in 1992, is expected to resign his seat immediately. Candidates have started campaigns in upstate New York’s 23rd District.
,
Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »
Links for Veterans ***
September 2, 2009 by admin.
This listing of veteran information we is courtesy of COL Carl Singer, Ret. and Past Department Commander for New Jersey.
Thank you Carl
Please pass this information on to every Veteran you know. Nearly 100% of this information is free and available for all veterans, the only catch is: you have to ask for it, because they won’t tell you about a specific benefit unless you ask for it. You need to know what questions to ask so the right doors open for you - and then be ready to have an advocate who is willing to work with and for you, stay in the process, and press for your rights and your best interests.
Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »
Veterans suffering from PTSD can visit virtual Chicoma Island for help
September 2, 2009 by admin.
09/01/2009
View slideshow of veteran visiting Chicoma Lodge in Second Life.
Combat veterans rarely talk about their most searing hidden emotions and thoughts caused by their experiences in battle, a reticence that can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles is near completing Coming Home, a virtual world in Second Life that its creators hope will help break down the barriers to PTSD treatment, said Jacquelyn Morie, a project leader at ICT.
The institute developed a virtual world that features immersive therapy, which mental health professionals can use to treat Iraq combat veterans suffering form PTSD called Virtual Iraq. The site includes a virtual Iraqi village that veterans can walk through.
ICT initially planned to use the village in Second Life, but in a recent paper that Morie wrote, a veteran told her that he found the Iraqi village “disturbingly realistic, and he did not believe that any veteran should be allowed to explore the village without a therapist at his side.”
The insight led to development of what Morie described as a nonthreatening environment in Second Life that she hopes will become a place of “camaraderie and healing.” The work, which began in January, has resulted in Chicoma Island, open only to veterans.
Although the Veterans Affairs Department operates 232 counseling centers nationwide to help veterans with PTSD, many do not visit them out of fear of confronting their own demons, distrust of VA or because they live too far from a center.
But veterans can visit the island, on which is the virtual Chicoma Lodge, the social center of the island and modeled after the great national park lodges of the western United States, from any computer connected to the Internet. The virtual lodge serves as the social center of the island, providing a variety of places for veterans to hang out comfortably. Visitors can sit on chairs or couches placed in front of one of two roaring fireplaces, and meet and talk to other avatars, virtual characters that visitors to Second Life create to explore the site’s islands.
Veterans can enter two game rooms where they can play air hockey, pool and darts. They also can sit at a piano, on which even the most nonmusical veteran can play the “Moonlight Sonata” like a professional.
To encourage conversation about combat experiences, the veterans’ island features a storytelling tower, which includes tales told by virtual warriors from the past. The first story is told by a Cheyenne Indian. ICT plans to add the ethos and ideals of other past cultures, the Celts and the samurai.
Coming Home also includes an artificial intelligence-based avatar that serves as a guide to the island. The guide also can suggest where visitors can access online PTSD treatment.
ICT will encourage physical activity by providing a virtual running track and climbing wall. The island already provides a virtual sandbox, in which veterans can practice their construction skills.
Coming Home will emphasize alternative treatment therapies, including Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, which combines meditation and yoga, Morie said.
While Chicoma Island is visually appealing, Morie said it is still a work in progress. But she believes the social interaction, offered in a comfortable setting, could promote conversations that can help reduce PTSD.
Veterans who want to explore Chicoma Island should contact Morie at morie@ict.usc.edu for entry.
Posted in Uncategorized | Print | No Comments »