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

137 Veterans from 58 VA medical centers have been invited to participate this week in VA’s annual Veterans Creative Arts Festival in Des Moines, Iowa.  All VA medical facilities incorporate creative arts into their recreation therapy programs to assist Veterans in their rehabilitation. [From VAntage Point]

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Marine Corps Veteran George Smith.  George served in the Pacific during WWII. [From VAntage Point]

We honor his service.

The new National Veterans Memorial and Museum officially opened to the public Saturday with a ceremony featuring Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie and former Secretary of State retired Gen. Colin Powell.  “This museum pays tribute to all our Veterans of all generations – all of us who are willing to make the sacrifice our Founding Fathers made in 1776,” said Powell, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. [From Stars and Stripes]

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Air Force Veteran Michael K. Lightning.  Michael served from 1980-1984. [From VAntage Point]

We honor your service, Michael!

President Donald Trump on Friday used his executive powers for the first time to designate a national monument, establishing a 380-acre site in Kentucky to honor African-Americans’ role as soldiers during the Civil War.  The move won praise from local activists and conservationists but also criticism from several environmental groups, which noted Trump had used this same authority under the 1906 Antiquities Act last year to downsize two existing national monuments in Utah. [From Stars and Stripes]

Rafi Rodriguez’s remarkable story started in San Juan, Puerto Rico and continues today in the Greater Cincinnati area.  He is an honored military Veteran, a recipient of the President’s Bronze Volunteer Medal – Presented by President George W. Bush, and a successful business owner. [From UCBA Now!]

Today the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) Board of Veterans’ Appeals (BVA) announced it is advancing employment opportunities for military spouses through by joining the Department of Defense (DOD) Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP).  MSEP is a career program connecting military spouses with more than 390 affiliated employers who have committed to recruit, hire, promote and retain military spouses in portable careers. [From VAntage Point]

Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie told the Alaska Federation of Natives convention on Saturday that the agency is expanding benefits for Veterans and families of service members in Alaska.  Speaking before hundreds of Alaska Natives, and later in a listening circle with dozens of Veterans, Wilkie said he was impressed with the longtime military service of Alaska Natives, with the highest enrollment rates in the nation. [From Anchorage Daily News]

The Federal Trade Commission, along with law enforcement officials and charity regulators from 70 offices in every state, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam and Puerto Rico, announced more than 100 actions and a consumer education initiative in “Operation Donate with Honor,” a crackdown on fraudulent charities that con consumers by falsely promising their donations will help Veterans and Servicemembers. [From DC Military Magazine]

Filipino World War II Veterans who fought under the American flag were honored at a luncheon in Lincoln Park on Sunday.  The event took place at the Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation on Euclid Avenue. [From ABC10 News]

From the time he was a young child playing Army with his friends and family, Iowa Army National Guard (IANG) Sgt. Maj. Jeffrey Lewis knew he would be in the military.  His family’s legacy of service added weight to that decision. [From Defense Visual Information Distribution Service]

Hawaii is seeking to build a $70 million Veterans home on part of the former Aiea Sugar Mill site owned by Honolulu, leading to pushback from community leaders. [From U.S. News]

Medal of Honor recipients are often recognized for a moment of heroism that can define their careers.  For Army Pvt. Barney Hajiro, his heroism spanned several days of action toward the end of World War II. [From Defense.gov]

The new Marine Corps base under construction on northern Guam will been named after one of the island’s most revered sons.  The main cantonment area of the Finegayan base, which had been referred to as Marine Corps Base Guam, will honor Marine Brig. Gen. Vicente “Ben” Tomas Garrido Blaz, according to a statement released Sunday by Guam Del. Madeleine Bordallo. [From Stars and Stripes]

Paul Lopez treasures his childhood memories of American fighter jets roaring over his family’s home in Virginia Beach, Va.  “I would see the F-14 Tomcats or the F-18 Hornets and I always wondered what it would be like to sit in that cockpit, flying in formation,” says Lopez, the first African-American pilot of the Air Force F-22 Demonstration Team. [From The Philadelphia Tribune]

The U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs toured an annual Anchorage event Friday that connects homeless Veterans with social services.  “We have to do a better job finding those veterans in rural parts of this state who are hard to get to and get them into our VA system,” said Secretary Robert Wilkie, who is now at the helm of the VA. [From KTUU]

The Army announced Thursday the names and cutoff scores of soldiers who are getting good news for November.  The promotions for active-component soldiers and AGR soldiers are effective Nov. 1. [From Army Times]

VA has selected Delta Dental of California and MetLife to once again offer private insurance coverage for the VA Dental Insurance Program (VADIP).  Veterans who are enrolled in the VA health care system and beneficiaries and their dependents of the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the VA (CHAMPVA) can enroll in the program beginning Monday, November 12, 2018, for coverage to start December 1, 2018. [From VAntage Point]