Military service members and their families sacrifice for the safety of the U.S. and face many challenges during and after their service, including repeated relocations, separation, accessing healthcare, mental health services, quality k-12 schools, unemployment, housing/homelessness, food insecurity, and higher risk of suicide. Where military families live can determine which services and supports are available,…

At the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee hearing on May 17 to review the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) 2024 budget and advance appropriations for 2025, a priority issue was the VA’s request for more funding to maintain and increase staff to process payment claims for veterans who have suffered injury or illness from exposure to toxins…

During the House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on March 29, Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.), a U.S. Army Vietnam War-era veteran, needed answers from Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough regarding veterans’ access to pharmaceuticals.  McDonough was testifying in front of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies subcommittee in support of the Biden administration’s…

The federal Veterans Affairs Department has no figures on the number of veterans it has hired since Parliament passed a bill in 2015 intended to increase veteran employment numbers. “We absolutely believe in hiring veterans, not just at Veterans Affairs Canada, but across all federal departments,” said Steven Harris, assistant deputy minister of service delivery at Veterans Affairs Canada…

Pfc. Logan White served two tours in Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army in May 2011. But his family says Logan’s war did not end until Sept. 26, 2017, after a heroin overdose. “People should know there are other ways that people can lose their lives…

Starting Jan. 17, U.S. military veterans in “acute suicidal crisis” can get free emergency health care at any Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) non-VA health care facility, the agency reported. According to a press release, the new policy allows veterans to access inpatient or crisis residential care for up to 30 days and outpatient treatment…

Veterans Affairs Minister Lawrence MacAulay on Thursday told a parliamentary committee that his department has discovered two new cases of an employee allegedly offering unsolicited medical assistance in dying, or MAiD, to veterans seeking medical treatment, bringing the total number of such cases up to four. The issue first came to light in August after a Global…

Suicide rates among America’s military veterans are more than double that reported by the government’s Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), according to a new study published on Sept. 17 by America’s Warrior Partnership (AWP). AWP is a national nonprofit that aims to partner with communities to prevent veteran suicide, according to its official website. The nonprofit partnered…

SAN DIEGO—A U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Spring Valley was sentenced on Dec. 6 to eight months in custody for having falsely claimed he was disabled and defrauded the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) out of more than $183,000 . Anthony Medrano, 42, submitted fraudulent claims to the VA over the course of several years, in order…

Australian Lance Corporal Ryan Goodwin returned home from Afghanistan in 2012 with no welcome-home parade, no fanfare, and no support for the traumatic injuries he suffered. Tormented by the horrors of war and unable to seek help from the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Goodwin took his own life in December 2019. Goodwin’s family told his…