The House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs is looking into whether a contractor thoroughly reviewed the files of Vietnam veterans who might deserve benefits for illnesses linked to exposure to Agent Orange. A contractor that pre-screens veteran files for evidence of those illnesses often spent just minutes reviewing each file, internal company documents show. [more]
Released 3/31/16 | Tags: Agent Orange
This time, critics are going after the V.A. to denying benefits to a record number of veterans who have served since the 9-11 attacks. At least 125,000 American veterans who served our country since September 11th are being treated by the V.A. as though they never even put on a uniform. The Department of Veterans Affairs has ruled them ineligible for veterans benefits, not because they didn’t sacrifice, but because they left the military without an honorable discharge. [more]
Released 3/31/16 | Tags: Discharge Upgrades, Veteran's Benefits
Critics of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are going after the VA for denying benefits to a record number of veterans who have served since the September 11th attacks. The report from the veterans advocacy group Swords to Plowshares, the National Veterans Legal Services Program and Harvard University shows at least 125,000 veterans have been ruled ineligible for benefits because they left the military without an honorable discharge. [more]
Released 3/31/16 | Tags: Discharge Upgrades, Veteran's Benefits
A high rate of military veterans are being turned away by the VA, according to a new report. CNN's Jake Tapper looks for answers. [more]
Released 3/31/16 | Tags: Discharge Upgrades, Veteran's Benefits
In what would be the biggest change in veterans benefits since the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, a vets group is petitioning the Department of Veterans Affairs to offer health care to vets kicked out for minor misconduct. The San Francisco-based non-profit group Swords to Plowshares, along with the the National Veterans Legal Services Program, and the Veterans Legal Clinic at Harvard Law School, is launching a public campaign behind the effort Wednesday. A private effort has been underway for months, after the group sent a petition to V.A. Secretary Bob McDonald in December 2015. [more]
Released 3/30/16 | Tags: Discharge Upgrades, Veteran's Benefits
The Department of Veterans Affairs is wrongfully denying services to roughly 125,000 post-9/11 veterans with other than honorable discharges, according to a joint study released Wednesday by two veterans advocacy groups and Harvard Law School. Some veterans are missing out on benefits such as healthcare, housing help for the homeless and disability services, in part, because the VA’s own rules are in contravention of the original GI Bill of Rights passed by Congress in 1944, according to the study. That represents roughly 6.5 percent of post-9/11 veterans, including more than 33,000 who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. [more]
Released 3/30/16 | Tags: Discharge Upgrades, Veteran's Benefits
A report released March 30 found that the Department of Veterans Affairs has been excluding post-9/11 veterans with bad paper discharges from earned benefits at unprecedented rates and suggests this may be in violation of the 1944 GI Bill of Rights. According to Swords to Plowshares and National Veterans Legal Services Program, the VA has excluded 125,000 post-9/11 veterans without ever reviewing their service. This includes roughly 33,000 who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan and amounts to 6.5% of all post-9/11 service members. In contrast, only 2.8% of Vietnam-era veterans and 1.7% of World War II-era veterans are excluded by the VA due to bad paper discharges. [more]
Released 3/30/16 | Tags: Congressional Legislation, Veteran's Benefits
Former members of the military are being refused benefits by the Department of Veterans Affairs at the highest rate since the department's creation at the end of World War II, according to a recent report from three veterans' groups: Swords to Plowshares, the National Veterans Legal Services Program and the Veterans Legal Clinic at the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School. [more]
Released 3/30/16 | Tags: Discharge Upgrades, Veteran's Benefits
At least 125,000 post-9/11 veterans have been denied services by the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to a new report. Roughly 6.5 percent of post-9/11 veterans, including more than 33,000 who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, are not receiving benefits such as healthcare, housing help for the homeless, and disability services, because they have "bad paper" discharges, the report by the National Veterans Legal Services Program and Swords to Plowshares, with assistance from Harvard Law School’s Veterans Legal Clinic, found, according to Stars and Stripes. [more]
Released 3/30/16 | Tags: Discharge Upgrades, Veteran's Benefits
A recent investigation shows the Pentagon ripped off wounded soldiers through a repayment scheme to a tune of $78 million over the past 25 years. Lawmakers were shocked to learn the Department of Defense had knowingly withheld tax payments from the disability payments paid to wounded soldiers on their way out of the military. Federal law prohibited the practice, but the DOD victimized at least 13,000 disabled soldiers through its withholding policy. [more]
Released 3/28/16 | Tags: Discharge Upgrades, Veteran's Benefits