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

In accordance with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, our office staff is operating 100% remotely via telework. If you’ve faxed an application for membership on the Advisory Committee on Minority Veterans to the Center for Minority Veterans, please follow up with an email or leave us a voicemail at (202) 461-6191, so we can ensure your personal information is secured and properly protected.

All VA national cemeteries are open and will continue to provide interments for Veterans and eligible individuals. However, effective March 23 — as part of the agency’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) — committal services and the rendering of military funeral honors will discontinue until further notice. [From VAntage Point]

Student Veterans will continue to receive their GI Bill benefits under S. 3503, which President Trump signed into law March 21. The law enables VA to continue providing the same level of education benefits to students having to take courses online due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. [From VAntage Point]

Veterans have multiple resources available for the latest COVID-19, or coronavirus, information. [From VAntage Point]

There are little ways and big ways to make a difference in someone’s life. Army Veteran David Norman first met Dial in February 2017 when he applied to the Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment (VR&E) program. [From VAntage Point]

Today’s #VeteranOfTheDay is Marine Corps Veteran Antonio Ruiz De La Torre, who built forward refueling stations during Operation Iraqi Freedom. With his parents’ permission, Antonio Ruiz De La Torre enlisted with the Marine Corps in 2000 at the age of 17. [From VAntage Point]

We honor your service, Antonio!

It is rare to meet a person who truly resembles not just a hero, but also a warrior in mind, body and spirit. Carla Sabrina Rose Locklear is a proud Native American Air Force Veteran who served as a medic in Texas from 1997 to 2002. [From VAntage Point]

The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic has the potential to increase stress and anxiety, both because of the fear of catching the virus and because of uncertainty about how it will affect us. If you have PTSD, you may have stronger stress reactions than normal. Feelings of fear, anxiety, sadness and doubt are normal during a pandemic. [From VAntage Point]