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Did You Know? VFW Helping
Vets to Recoup Billions Last year (2012), the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW) helped 125,000 disabled veterans recoup more than $3.7 billion in earned compensation and pension from the Department of Veterans Affairs. The VFW has a nationwide force of 1,200 VA-accredited service officers includes more than 200 working inside the 57 VA regional offices, as well as advocates inside the VA Board of Veterans Appeals. You do not need to be a VFW member to take advantage of this free service. For more information, see a VFW accredited service officer today.
Claim Missing Money MissingMoney.com is officially endorsed by National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. The website will assist you in thoroughly searching all participating states to find your family's missing, lost, and unclaimed property, money and assets. MissingMoney.com has the most updated information for the state and provincial offices. Searches and claiming are always FREE. Information goes securely and directly to the state/provincial unclaimed property office.
Safe Harbor Supports Vets One thousand seriously wounded, ill and injured
servicemembers are now enrolled in Navy Wounded Warrior (NWW) - Safe Harbor, the Department of the Navy's support program for Sailors and Coast Guardsmen. NWW has also assisted more than 960 other
servicemembers who do not qualify for enrollment but still require support. The program's goal is to enable servicemembers
to focus on getting well, while its team of experts resolves pressing non-medical concerns and prepares enrollees for transition
back to active duty or civilian life. Services include linking wounded warriors to benefits, connecting them to employment
and education opportunities, hosting adaptive athletics events, and sharing family and mental health resources. For more information
about NWW and how to enroll, call 1-855-NAVY WWP/1-855-628-9997. VA May Be Hiding Data Department of Veterans Affairs officials purposely manipulate or hide data that would support the claims of veterans
from Iraq and Afghanistan to prevent paying costly benefits, a former VA researcher will tell a House subcommittee Wednesday
afternoon. "If the
studies produce results that do not support the office of public health's unwritten policy, they do not release them,"
according to prepared testimony from Steven Coughlin, a former epidemiologist in the VA's public health department. " This applies
to data regarding adverse health consequences of environmental exposures, such as burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan, and toxic
exposures in the Gulf War," Coughlin said. "On the rare occasions when embarrassing study results are released,
data are manipulated to make them unintelligible." Coughlin will testify before the House Committee on Veterans Affairs that VA routinely minimizes research that would
bolster the claims of veterans suffering from the series of symptoms associated with Gulf War illness, as well as health issues
linked to exposure to large burn pits and dust in Iraq. His allegations echo previous cases in which the VA was slow to respond to health problems in veterans, ranging from
exposure to the chemical defoliant Agent Orange in Vietnam, to Gulf War illness, to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
and traumatic brain injury from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2010, Coughlin participated in a study of recent veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan that linked exposure to burn pits
to greater incidences of asthma or bronchitis. His request to see their medical records was denied, Coughlin said, and the
results of the study were never published. "I was very concerned they were withholding data or misleading people," he told USA TODAY. "I don't want
to speculate about why." Coughlin said a 2012 panel of outside experts hired to help the Institute of Medicine study neurological connections
to Gulf War illness was stacked in favor of those who believed the disease is psychological. By Kelly Kennedy, USA Today. Click here to read the remainder of the story. To learn more about your benefits see your nearest
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