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Veteran's E-News (September 2008) |
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Veterans Center Opens in Davie |
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By Scott
Fishman | South Florida Sun-Sentinel -
August 31, 2008
For many
returning soldiers, the scars of war
linger in their minds. These
psychological wounds leave many feeling
they have nowhere to turn.
However, with the recent opening of the
new South Florida Veterans Multi-Purpose
Center in Davie, these local heroes have
a place to go.
The
facility, running on corporate and
private donations, offers a wide range
of programs geared toward helping
soldiers and their families cope with
the aftereffects of war. Aside from
counseling, the facility takes them out
of an office setting and puts them in
the pasture with the center's developing
Equine Assisted Therapy Program. At the
helm of it all is Executive Director Bob
Bambury, a Vietnam Veteran. |
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A Grateful American -
Barbara "skylark" Bain |
S.E. Chapter 33 Abate of Florida, Inc.
Veterans Multi-purpose Center of Davie
The non profit Multi Purpose Veterans Center of
Davie would like to make you aware of the wide
range of programming for day care & weekend
retreats for those suffering the invisible
wounds of war that are available.The vision
is to provide innovative, high quality, non
clinical, therapeutic programs, services,
outreach, peer education & support for our
veterans impacted by the perilous events of war.
About a year ago an equine therapy program was
instituted for the mental health sufferers of
PTSD.
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Tuition Assistance Payment Rates |
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Armed Forces Tuition Assistance (TA) is a
benefit paid to eligible members of the Army,
Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard.
Congress has given each service the ability to
pay up to 100% for the tuition expenses of its
members. Each service has its own criteria for
eligibility, obligated service, application
process' and restrictions. This money is usually
paid directly to the institution by the
individual services.
Additionally active duty members may elect to
use the MGIB "top-up" in addition to their
service provided TA to cover high cost courses.
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1.8 Million Veterans Uninsured |
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According to a recent study, 1.8 million
military veterans in the U.S. neither have
health insurance nor receive ongoing care at the
Veterans Health Administration (VHA). |
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New Online Post-Deployment Resource |
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The Military Health System is planning a
late-September update to its behavioral health
website, AfterDeployment.org. The website was
launched Aug. 5, 2008. AfterDeployment.org
includes video-based testimonials from service
members, veterans and families discussing their
deployment challenges and how they coped. |
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Extra Social Security Benefits |
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The Fleet Reserve Association reports that those
with military service prior to 2001 may be
entitled to an extra monetary benefit when
filing for Social Security benefits. This
benefit includes all military veterans with
active-duty service from 1957 - 2001. |
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Citizenship Faster for Service Members |
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A new initiative from the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS) helps simplify and
expedite the process for servicemembers to
obtain American citizenship. The process to
become a U.S. citizen was simplified in July
2002 when President George W. Bush signed the
Expedited Naturalization Executive Order, which
allows active-duty personnel serving on or after
Sept. 11, 2001 to immediately file for
citizenship. |
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Army Shifts from Green to Blue |
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A new Army message defines the wear policy of
the new Army Service Uniform and gives
"bridging" strategy for transition to the new
uniform. The new Army Service Uniform will
replace the white, blue and green service
uniforms. Soldiers are expected to posses the
entire uniform by July, 2014. |
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Prostate Cancer Twice as High in Vietnam
Veterans |
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The 20 million gallons of dioxin-laden Agent
Orange sprayed in Vietnam in the '60s and early
'70s to kill foliage continues to hurt U.S.
soldiers and Vietnamese citizens. A study of
more than 13,000 Vietnam veterans who served
between 1962 and 1971 found that prostate cancer
occurs twice as often in those who were exposed
to the toxin Agent Orange compared to those who
were not exposed to the herbicide. In addition,
Agent Orange-exposed veterans were diagnosed
two-and-a-half years younger and were nearly
four times more likely to develop more
aggressive forms of cancer compared with those
who were not exposed. Other prostate cancer risk
factors such as race, body mass index and
smoking were not statistically different between
the two groups.
The findings, to be published in the Sept. 15
issue of the journal Cancer, are the first to
reliably link the herbicide with prostate cancer through a large population study,
according to researchers at the University of
California-Davis Cancer Center. The men in the
study, all in their 60s, are enrolled in the VA
Northern California Health Care System. They
were screened with the prostate-specific antigen
(PSA) test used as a tool for early diagnosis
and tracking of prostate cancer.
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Little is Known About the True Scope of
Suicides |
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Little is known about the true scope of suicides
among those who have served in the military.
(CBS) They are the casualties of wars you don’t
often hear about - soldiers who die of
self-inflicted wounds. Little is known about the
true scope of suicides among those who have
served in the military.
But a five-month CBS News investigation
discovered data that shows a startling rate of
suicide, what some call a hidden epidemic, Chief
Investigative Reporter Armen Keteyian reports
exclusively.
“I just felt like this silent scream inside
of me,” said Jessica Harrell, the sister of a
soldier who took his own life.
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Suicide Among Veterans is
Double |
An update: The chairman of the Senate Veterans'
Affairs Committee, Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii,
responded to the CBS News story Tuesday.
“The report that the rate of suicide among
veterans is double that of the general
population is deeply troubling and simply
unacceptable. |
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