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

Today›s #VeteranOfTheDay is Coast Guard Veteran Holly Harrison.  Holly Harrison is the first woman in the United States Coast Guard to earn the Bronze Star.  In charge of the 110-foot cutter Aquidneck during Operation Iraqi Freedom, she and her small crew patrolled the Khawr Abd Allah waterway separating Iraq and Kuwait. [From VAntage Point]

We honor your service, Holly!

As a 17-year-old, Bessie Pello says, she saw the Army as a way out.  Brunswick had burgeoned during World War II but in peace time it had shrunk back to nearly its original size. [From The Florida Times-Union]

It was less than two years ago – December 2015 – that the last barriers barring women from certain combat positions finally fell.  Now, the new play “Bullet Catchers” envisions a not-so-distant future where women and men officially serve together in the same infantry unit. [From We Are the Mighty]

Alice “Nora” Howes was one of the first women to enlist in the Women›s Army Auxiliary, later the Women’s Army Corps. [From Brick Patch]

The Navy says it has its first female candidates for two elite special operations jobs previously closed to women – including a prospective SEAL.  One woman is in the pipeline to be a SEAL officer, and another is on the path to becoming a special warfare combatant crewman. [From NPR]

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Army Air Corps Veteran F. Rosalind Westfall Sellmer.  During World War II, Rosalind enlisted in the U.S. Army in January 1942, where she served as a nurse in charge of wards and clinics at Army Air Force installations in the U.S. [From VAntage Point]

We honor her service.

The Army has spent the better part of a decade on an update to the age-old PT test, one that better measures factors like the strength and agility to effective in combat. This month, they got one step closer with a Soldier Readiness Test pilot held around the country. [From Army Times]

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Army Veteran Jennifer McNeill.  Jennifer enlisted in the Army April 1976.  She completed her basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and advanced individual training at Fort Sam Houston, Texas where she trained as a dental assistant. [From VAntage Point]

We honor your service, Jennifer!

When a new system being field tested this summer goes live, VA will become the first U.S. health care organization ever to put genetic testing data into the hands of patients via a mobile application.  The system, named Genetic Diagnostic Testing App – called GDx – will put individual genetic information in the hands of Veterans – providing them with access to their information anywhere, anytime, as well as the ability to share it with VA and non-VA providers alike. [From VAntage Point]

Marines United has resurfaced the Defense Department’s “silent epidemic.”  Advocates are determined not to let the conversation die again. [From The War Horse]

Joy Craig writes in an open letter about the chasm between Marines’ wives and female Marines, and about a budding friendship that has softened her distrust. [From The War Horse]

Liesel Kershul had forgotten life on the painful outskirts of the wives’ “sorority.”  A friendship with a female Marine has Liesel determined to change that. [From The War Horse]

Elizabeth O’Herrin describes picking flowers & catching ladybugs as a kid.  While deployed in the Middle East, sunflowers hid mortars & the land turned gray. [From The War Horse]

They answered the call of patriotism.  Some still in high school and some even younger, they begged at recruitment offices for a chance to join the fight. [From Newsday]

More than a year after a mandate for the Pentagon opened previously closed ground combat and special operations jobs to women, officials say the Navy has its first female candidates for its most elite special warfare roles.  Two women were in boot camp as candidates for the Navy’s all-enlisted Special Warfare Combatant-Craft Crewman program, Naval Special Warfare Center Deputy Commander Capt. Christian Dunbar told members of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Service in June. [From Military.com]

The Louisiana National Guard’s Brig. Gen. Joanne F. Sheridan will be promoted to the rank of major general during an official ceremony at the Ansel M. Stroud Military History & Weapons Museum at Jackson Barracks in New Orleans, July 21. [From The News Star]

When Betty Love moved into Building 209 in June of this year, after more than 25 years of living on the streets, she finally felt at home. Love was one of 53 Veterans to receive permanent supportive housing on land owned by the Dept. of Veterans Affairs in Westwood. [From KCRW For the Curious]

Maj. Gen.Sheryl Gordon has been named to command the Alabama National Guard, becoming the first woman to hold the post.  AL.com reports that Gov. Kay Ivey selected Gordon as adjutant general on Monday, calling her a “trailblazer and visionary leader“ in a press release. [From Army Times]

The WV Department of Disabled American Veterans donated $1,000 to the Women’s Clinic at the VA Hospital in Clarksburg Tuesday, to help cover expenses for basic necessities.  “With the thousand dollars, we’ll be able to purchase diaper bags for pregnant females and fill them with all kinds of different things that the baby should need,” said Heather Zannino, medical support assistant with the Women's Clinic. [From WDTV 5 News]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is seeking nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for membership on the National Research Advisory Council (Council). Nominations for membership on the Council must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on August 15, 2017. [From The Federal Register]

Aside from health care, education benefits may be VA’s most valuable offering to Veterans. The Post 9/11 G.I. Bill offers tuition, a book stipend, a housing allowance and more. [From VAntage Point]