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

NPR’s Michel Martin talks with U.S. Army veteran Jas Boothe about the documentary Served Like a Girl, which follows female Veterans as they prepare for the 2015 Ms. Veteran America competition. [From NPR]

A nonprofit focused on female brain injury hopes to raise awareness of traumatic brain injury in women and degenerative brain diseases. [From Everyday Health]

Eastern Oklahoma VA Health Care System (EOVAHCS) is starting a new Moral Injury & Reconciliation Clinic for women veterans beginning June 8, according to a news release.  Moral injury is the wounding of the conscience from a traumatic experience such as combat or sexual trauma. [From Muskogee Phoenix]

One of the first female Marines was honored at a luncheon in Ohio on Thursday and called her decision to join the military the “best thing” she’s ever done.  Barbara Kruse, 95, was part of a group of Veterans at the Columbus VA Ambulatory Care Center who were honored at the luncheon for those over the age of 95. [From FOX News]

A Muskegon Veteran is pushing for a separate day to honor women Veterans.  A Michigan House of Representatives committee will vote Tuesday on a resolution to set June 15 as Women Veterans Day in the state. [From Wood TV]

In another milestone for women in the military, Air Force Special Operations Command will soon have its first female air commando brigadier general, who will become the command’s director of operations, according to Lt. Gen. Brad Webb, commander of AFSOC.  Col. Brenda Cartier, currently commander of the 58th Special Operations Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, will transition to Hurlburt in the summer. [From Military.com]

Give blood, go skateboarding.  So read the motto on the deck I bought after returning from Iraq in 2004.  It was easier to risk skinned knees and sprained wrists than mull over my time in the desert. [From The New York Times]

NAS Patuxent River history was made May 15 with the installation’s first all-women qualified Air Traffic Control Tower team on duty. [From DC Military]

Congress has passed a massive bill, nicknamed the VA Mission Act, to streamline Veterans’ access to non-VA community care when clinically appropriate, create a new VA benefit of commercial walk-in clinics, and end an indefensible inequity by opening the VA comprehensive caregiver program, on a phased schedule, to older generations of Veterans severely injured while in service.  The bill, which features many initiatives and officially is titled The John S. McCain III, Daniel K. Akaka and Samuel R. Johnson VA Maintaining Internal Systems and Strengthening Integrated Outside Networks Act(S 2372), cleared the Senate on 92-5 vote Wednesday and the House a week earlier by a 347-70 margin. [From Military.com]

This Memorial Day, Americans will gather on the hallowed grounds of VA’s national cemeteries to remember our war dead, pay homage to their courage, and honor those who sacrificed so much to preserve our nation.  I count myself fortunate to have spent much of my life in public service and to have joined an organization where we have a workforce that takes great pride in our noble mission. [From VAntage Point]

“I tried to get in vitro fertilization and I couldn’t afford it.  That’s the only reason we do not have a child today.” [From Military Times]

As a child, Leigh Ann Hester’s father took her to see parade where she watched service men and women march in uniform.  Looking up as they moved in sharp formation, Leigh Ann knew she wanted to be one of them one day – she longed to serve her country. [From VAntage Point]

The Veterans Health Administration’s Office of Connected Care and the American Legion will host a live Twitter Chat at 1 p.m. EDT on June 7 to talk about VA’s connected health care technologies.  Come learn about the many connected health care tools VA offers to help improve the lives of Veterans, caregivers and their families.  These include My HealtheVet, VA Telehealth and video appointments using VA Video Connect, and more than two dozen mobile apps for Veterans on the VA App Store. [From VAntage Point]

It was the boots.  Weighing 17 pounds each, and sized much too big for her feet, they had toes that would point down no matter how hard she tried to lift her feet. [From Military.com]

The U.S. Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims was established by Article I of the Constitution to review decisions of the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA), which is part of VA.  This court has exclusive jurisdiction over these types of cases. [From VAntage Point]

On May 26 and 28, the Veterans History Project staff at the Library of Congress will host a series of developmental opportunities, as well as performances drawn from their collection of Veteran history material.  As a crowd-sourced archive of Veterans’ original materials, the Veterans History Project provides volunteers with methods to collect oral histories, manuscripts, photographs and original artwork of Veterans. [From VAntage Point]

Twice a year, the Freedom Honor Flight in La Crosse takes Veterans on the trip of a lifetime to Washington D.C. for an opportunity to see memorials built in their honor.  The Veterans share a common bond of service, but the experience brings out individual stories as well [From WXOW News 19]

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Center for Minority Veterans (CMV), is seeking nominations of qualified candidates to be considered for appointment as a member of the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans (“the Committee”).  Nominations for membership on the Committee must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on June 1, 2018. [From the Federal Register]

Women who blazed the way in the armed forces have amazing stories to tell.  Learn about three female senior Veterans who opened the doors for other women. [From Seniorly]

True or false:  The care provided by Veterans Affairs hospitals is generally superior to that of other hospitals.  Whatever else you might have heard about VA lately, that statement, which is true, is among the findings from a deep dive conducted by the RAND Corporation. [From Federal News Radio]

Maj. Gen. Lori Reynolds has been nominated for a third star and to serve as the recently established deputy commandant for information, according to a May 18 announcement from the Department of Defense.  Reynolds, who currently heads Marine Corps Forces Cyberspace Command, will succeed Lt. Gen. Daniel O’Donohue, who is moving to the joint staff. [From C4ISRNET]

As children at Patrick Air Force Base in the early 1980s, Kristen Emery and her siblings fished Florida’s Banana River and strung their catch on the back porch to eat.  They dug up the backyard, muddying their hands. [From Military Times]

For many Veterans, communicating with a doctor in real time will now be as convenient as putting a new app on their smartphone, tablet or personal computer.  VA Video Connect, which the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) began piloting in 2017, is now being rolled out to veterans across the country. [From AARP]

For U.S. Army veterans Paul Ross and Freda Grandmason, yoga is a life-changing experience.  “Two years ago, I was lucky if I could get out of my bed,” said Grandmason, who struggles with fibromyalgia and anxiety. [From The Nashua Telegraph]

If your doctor has suggested undergoing screening for osteoporosis – a disease that weakens bones and makes them more likely to break – there are things you should know about this common condition.  About 10 percent of Americans 50 and older have osteoporosis, and many more eventually develop a less severe form of low bone density called osteopenia, according to a 2014 review published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. [From The Washington Post]

Trumpets sounded as flags went up in front of the new Yakama Nation Veteran Affairs building in Toppenish.  People with the Yakama Warriors Association said they’ve been working on something like this for about 10 years. [From KIMA TV]

More than 1.4 million Veterans of all ages rely on government food assistance, but food insecurity is disproportionately common among post 9/11 Veterans.  Even before the sun was up, crowds gathered in the parking lot of the VA Austin Outpatient Clinic for its once-a-month pop-up food bank. [From North Country Public Radio]

In the early days of the Iraq War, troops were riding around in Humvees with almost no armor on them.  There was a scandal about it, and within a few years the trucks got up-armored with thick steel plates, which solved one problem but created another. [From NPR]