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

“In the process of writing this book,” recall Tracy Crow and Jerri Bell in the preface to It’s My Country Too:  Women’s Military Stories from the American Revolution to Afghanistan, “we discovered…that we had served our country without knowing our own history.” [From The Military Spouse Book Review]

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Army Veteran Reva Stetten Stern Gornbein.  Reva served during and after World War II from 1943 to 1946 in the United States and Europe as a member of the Women›s Army Auxiliary Corps. [From VAntage Point]

We honor your service, Reva!

The message from VA to the friends and families of Veterans during Suicide Prevention Month is simple:  Be there.  “We know that in 2014, an average of 20 Veterans a day died in this country from suicide, which is 20 too many,” said VA Secretary David J. Shulkin. [From VAntage Point]

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Women’s Army Corps Veteran Alice Evamae Ewing Phillips.  Alice served during World War II from 1944-1947. [From VAntage Point]

We honor her service.

The next female airman seeking to become a tactical air control party airman began training on Aug. 6, Air Education and Training Command said.  The airman, who was not identified, is the third woman who has sought to become a TACP since it and other battlefield jobs were opened to women. [From Air Force Times]

It has been more than a year and a half since the military opened all jobs across the services to women.  But for jobs in the Navy’s special warfare community, including SEALs, getting women into the ranks of their elite career fields has been slow. [From Navy Times]

After nearly a year apart, it was an emotional moment when Air Force Staff Sgt. Amanda Cubbage of the 355th Security Forces Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, and the military working dog she worked with in South Korea were reunited here Aug. 8.  The dog, Rick, was flown in from Osan Air Base, South Korea, after a lengthy adoption process. [From U.S. Department of Defense]

Air Force Staff Sgt. Luis Chiriboga and Airman 1st Class Estefania Briceno Ron travelled far from their former home in Ecuador and today they’re both airmen, U.S. citizens and married to each other.  Chiriboga is now an engineering technician with the 14th Civil Engineer Squadron here and Briceno Ron is a personnel and administration technician assigned to the 14th Medical Support Squadron here. [From U.S. Department of Defense]

Raven Hull, a personnel specialist at the 179th Airlift Wing here, and Lakota Hull, a medical administrator also at the 179th, are identical twins serving in the Air National Guard.  Both with long black hair and tan skin, Raven and Lakota also have similar mannerisms, many of the same friends and they even sound alike when speaking. Telling them apart can seem impossible. [From U.S. Department of Defense]

Margaux Mange helped teach Pat Gault to seek out war stories of all stripes.  Their chance meeting on Denali changed his life. [From The Warhorse]

The tremendously affecting documentary “Served Like a Girl,” directed by Lysa Heslov, takes as its subject an event that may be niche but contains a much larger cultural significance.  The Ms. Veteran America pageant features female Vets embracing their feminine side in gorgeous gowns, but the true purpose of the pageant is so much more than glitz and glamour. [From Los Angeles Times]

Two female Sailors assigned to USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) were selected for the opportunity to be among the first enlisted women who will serve on an Ohio-class submarine as part of the Enlisted Women in Submarines (EWIS) program.  “They [announced the program] at quarters one day and I talked to the CHENG (chief engineer) about it,” Electrician›s Mate 3rd Class Rashel Oconnell said, a John C. Stennis Sailor selected for the EWIS. [From The Flagship]

A few months back, I visited with Bill Rausch, the executive director veterans nonprofit Got Your 6.  I asked him about the mission of his organization and he put it very simply, “Veterans like serving.  They want to continue to serve.  We try to empower them do that.” [From Task & Purpose]

Defense Secretary James Mattis is doing exactly what President Donald Trump asked of him in ordering a review of the transgender troop ban in the military, analysts say.  Tuesday evening Mattis announced the military will “develop a study and implementation plan, which will contain the steps that will promote military readiness, lethality, and unit cohesion, with due regard for budgetary constraints and consistent with applicable law” with the transgender troop ban. [From Federal News Radio]

Last Wednesday, the Student Veterans of America chapter at the University Houston hosted a back-to-school breakfast for its members.  A week later, school would be cancelled and their city would be under water. [From Military Times]

The pantheon of American Ninja Warrior greats includes former special operators, Ironman athletes, and seriously tough mudders.  But after this week’s episode, perhaps there’s some room on that lofty pedestal for a sprightly 27-year-old Army lawyer named Jeri. [From Task and Purpose]

On Aug. 9, U.S. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark A. Milley released his Professional Reading List, an annual collection of books recommended for Army and civilian personnel to better understand the range of military, economic, political, and future issues facing the service, the country, and the world.  Our review of the list revealed a significant blindspot. [From Task and Purpose]

Titans coach Mike Mularkey wrapped up practice on Thursday, and thought he had a heck of a day.  He’d watched his quarterback, Marcus Mariota, turn in another solid outing. [From Titans Online]

A former U.S. Military Academy at West Point cadet who sought judicial relief from what she described as a sexually oppressive culture that included crude chants during campus marches was told Wednesday by an appeals court to seek help from Congress instead. [From Army Times]

There are so many Veterans in the US, and never enough support.  Though, there are good orgs who are really serious about getting stuff done.  The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) is fighting hard for the often invisible Veterans:  Women. [From Huffington Post]

The Central Texas Veterans Health Care System is sending a 25 member team to Houston’s VA hospital to provide relief to staff who haven’t been able to leave since Hurricane Harvey hit this weekend.  The Central Texas team, made up of nurses, operating room technicians and radiology techs, will leave Wednesday at 7 a.m. [From The Statesman]

Transgender troops can continue to serve pending a study and recommendation from Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the Defense Department announced Tuesday.  The DoD has received Trump’s memorandum on transgender service members and will implement the president’s policy direction, according to a prepared statement from Mattis. [From Military Times]

A SWAT team broke into a Kristen Ambury’s home to try and save her after she threatened to kill herself Aug. 25–but it ended in tragedy, according to the Sun Sentinel.  Ambury was reportedly armed as she barricaded herself for more than three hours in her apartment in Sunrise, Florida, according to the Sun Sentinel. [From The Miami Herald]

American astronaut Peggy Whitson ends her streak for most cumulative time in space in five days, and NASA is doing everything it can to keep a tropical storm from postponing her homecoming.  As of Monday evening, NASA not only planned on Whitson’s scheduled Sept. 2 landing in Kazakhstan, but also expected to host her final news conference Aug. 30 from the International Space Station, despite the Johnson Space Center’s closure for Hurricane Harvey. [From Federal News Radio]

The Department of Defense (DoD) is publishing this notice to announce that the following Federal Advisory Committee meeting of the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services will take place on September 12-13, 2017. [From the Federal Register]

VA hosted a Facebook Live event August 22 to connect Veterans with benefit information and resources.  Members of VA’s digital media team joined three Veterans in discussing their experiences using Explore.VA.gov. [From VAntage Point]

She tried to take her own life eight times in one year while serving as a soldier in the 4th Infantry Division in 2008.  The stressors of combat, losing a couple of very close friends in battle and adapting to life back in the U.S. after serving in Iraq was too much for her to handle. [From VAntage Point]