U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs CWV - News Update

Eighteen of the 32 women who reported to infantry one station unit training in February have earned their blue cords and will soon be joining the rest of the force as the Army’s first junior enlisted female infantrymen.  A year after the Army lifted the ban on women serving in the armor and infantry branches, Fort Benning, Georgia, sent some of service’s first female grunts off to the next step of their careers at a Friday graduation ceremony for 1st Battalion, 19th Infantry Regiment. [From Army Times]

The Leidholms are just like any ordinary young family. They get up early to deal with the happy chaos of getting themselves ready for work and preparing their two small daughters for the day.  Dad and Mom tag-team -- he changes the baby’s diaper and ensures their 3-and-a-half-year-old daughter is dressed and clean, then feeds the cats and dogs.  He heads out the door by 6:30 a.m. [from the U.S. Department of Defense]

In the early hours of the day, the sound of reveille rings throughout Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas.  Trainees spring out of their beds to begin days filled with training, instruction and loud orders from their instructors.  The instructors lead their flights through it all; the long hours of inprocessing, the days filled with classroom instruction, and the meticulous practices that build resiliency and focus. [from the U.S. Department of Defense]

The Marine Corps’ longstanding tradition of having two-tiered fitness requirements for men and women aims to ensure fairness, but a growing chorus of critics say it creates a double standard and implies that female Marines are not as physically capable as men.  It’s another political battle inside the Corps over gender and standards that stems in part from last year’s controversial decision to allow women to serve in combat units traditionally restricted to men. [From Marine Corps Times]

Sen. Joni Ernst arrived on Capitol Hill in 2015 best known for a pun-filled campaign commercial where she promised to “cut pork” like she did castrating hogs on her family’s Iowa farm and “make ’em squeal’” when it came to sparring with Washington insiders.  So it may come as a surprise that in the last two years she has quietly worked to build a bipartisan resume on military and Veterans issues, angling for compromises in lieu of confrontations in the politically fractured Congress. [from Military Times]

The state Senate last week passed a resolution that recognizes women in the Cadet Nurse Corps. during World War II as veterans and urges Congress to do the same.  “Today we value and appreciate the women who serve in our military,” said state Sen. Ed Gomes, D-Bridgeport and vice-chair of the Veteran Affairs Committee. [From The CT Post]

LeeAnn Fox thought it was just her.  After serving 18 years in the Navy and being promoted to an E-7, or chief petty officer, Fox returned to civilian life feeling out of sync and alone.  She ended up nearly homeless in the months following her retirement. [From The Corpus Christi Caller Times]

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Coast Guard Veteran Florence Ebersole Smith Finch.  Florence served during World War II.  Florence, the daughter of a U.S. Army veteran and Filipino mother, was born in the Philippines.  She married Navy crewman Charles E. Smith who died helping American and Filipino troops during the Japanese invasion.  Florence was working as a secretary for U.S. Army intelligence in Manila when the Japanese invaded the Philippines soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. [From VAntage Point]

It was a warm Sunday afternoon on May 20, 1917, as nurses and doctors of Chicago’s Base Hospital Unit No. 12 gathered on deck of the U.S.S. Mongolia to watch Navy gunners conduct target practice.  Laura Huckleberry, one of the nurses standing on deck, had grown up on a farm near North Vernon, Indiana, and graduated from the Illinois Training School for Nurses in 1913. With Huckleberry were her roommates, Emma Matzen and Edith Ayres, also graduates of the Illinois Training School Class of 1913 and Red Cross Reserve Nurses selected for coveted spots in the hospital unit. [From VAntage Point]

Just before Armed Forces Day in 2015, I pulled a slim hardback book off the “hold” bookshelf at my local public library, pushed aside the interlibrary loan slip, and flipped through the pages.  For Women in the United States Military:  An Annotated Bibliography, military archivist and historian Judith Bellafaire had collected a list of more than seven hundred documents and books written by women in or supporting the US military, spanning every period of US military history back to the American Revolution.  The list, published in 2011, didn’t include even half of the women Veterans’ memoirs I’d read from the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Bellafaire had grouped the entries by war, and had introduced each section with brief historical and historiographical commentary.  Although I’d served twenty years in the Navy, none of the information was the least bit familiar. [From The University of Nebraska Press Blog]

Moments before 18 women were about to walk across Inouye Field at Fort Benning to become brand new privates and specialists, a female drill sergeant offered clarity.  “This is a big deal,” she said to the younger women Friday morning on the grounds of the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center.  “You are making f---ing history.” [From The Ledger-Enquirer]

As we celebrate Women’s Health Week, I am pleased to announce that VA has adopted American Cancer Society breast cancer screening guidelines that give women a choice to begin screening at age 40.  The guidelines also recommend starting yearly mammograms by age 45 and then every other year from age 55.  The guidelines apply to women at average risk for breast cancer and complement VA’s already-extensive program for breast care for Veterans. [From VAntage Point]

There has long been a misperception that strength of character determines physiological and psychological resiliency.  This is a dangerous assumption, one that discourages many from seeking help.  I know firsthand. [From Military Times]

It is not Iron Man.  It isn’t even Iron Fist.  Lockheed Martin’s newest exoskeleton is more like Iron Leg.  But for a soldier humping his weapons, ammo and body armor up a mountain in Afghanistan or a high-rise building in a future urban battle, a device to take the load off would be welcome.  And, unlike science fiction supersuits, we can build it now. [From Breaking Defense]

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Army World War II Veteran Yolanda Borrelli Imhoff.  Yolanda served in the Women’s Army Corps with the 1709th Signal Battalion and 9th Air Force.  She shared her experiences working as a radio operator during World War II in an interview for the Veterans History Project. [From VAntage Point]

We honor her service.

A red-carpet entry, the sweet sound of jazz and sass filled the main hallway of the new, impressive New Orleans VA Medical Center as more than 200 women Veterans gathered for the facility’s first Ladies Night Out.  The event was organized to help Southeast Louisiana women Veterans learn about VA services and mingle with other women Veterans. [From VAntage Point]

On May 25, join VA and Got Your 6 for a Facebook Live event discussing VA life insurance.  It can often be difficult or expensive for Veterans with service-connected disabilities to get life insurance from a private company.  Sometimes Veterans find this out too late and once the VA application deadlines pass, the benefit is no longer available.

In observance of National Women’s Health Week and Mental Health Awareness Month, which also occurs in May, the HHS Office on Women’s Health is hosting a panel discussion with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Army Medicine and several others to raise awareness about women Veteran’s health.  Join us live on Facebook as we talk to experts and women Veterans about steps that #womenvets can take to improve their health. [From Health and Human Services]

Mike, a Connecticut Veteran, has high praise for VA’s medical legal partnership and the difference it has made in his life.  “Their support, encouragement and technical assistance made the difference.  I now have peace of mind. Within a year, all my criminal offenses will be banished from my record.” [From VAntage Point]

The top government watchdog said Tuesday that nearly a quarter of U.S. troops discharged for misconduct were given other-than-honorable discharges despite previously being diagnosed with a mental health condition.  The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its report faulted branches of the Department of Defense (DOD) for having policies inconsistent with -- or poor enforcement of -- official Pentagon rules for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) or sexual trauma. [From The Hill]

Heather Wilson, a former representative from New Mexico and Air Force Academy graduate, was sworn in Tuesday as the 24th secretary of the Air Force.  Defense Secretary Jim Mattis administered the oath of office to Wilson at a ceremony on the steps of the Pentagon, and thanked her for leaving her position as president of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, South Dakota, to serve the Air Force once again. [From Air Force Times]

The Navy has implemented a zero-tolerance policy for sharing nude photos of coworkers online without consent -- a no-nonsense stance reminiscent of its strict policy on drug use.  The Navy issued new guidance in a fleet-wide message Tuesday announcing sailors caught violating new regulations prohibiting cyberstalking and online harassment will face a mandatory administrative discharge. [From Navy Times]

Torita Watkins, a Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, endured hard times after separating from the Navy.  Within a short period of time, her child’s father died, she was a victim of identity theft and she found herself facing homelessness.  Also, as a fulltime student pursuing a bachelor’s degree in accounting, she had almost depleted her savings and didn’t know how she would continue to pay rent. [From VAntage Point]

The birth of a baby is a life-changing event that can trigger all kinds of emotions from happiness and joy to jitters and fear.  It can also lead to something you might not expect -- postpartum depression. [From VAntage Point]