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TREA  3Feb12

1) “Doc Fix” Problem Grows More Expensive
2) U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Continues ‘Veterans’ Hiring Push (Today In Indianapolis During Super Bowl Weekend)
3) Obama To Announce Veterans Job Corps
4) House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Lowering the Rate of Unemployment for the National Guard
5) Proposal to Cut Federal Workers Would Avoid More Defense Cuts
6) Perpetuating the Erroneous “Ticking Bomb” View of Veterans

FROM TREA HQ:

7) The February issue of The VOICE E-mag is available online at: http://www.trea.org/TheVoice/TheVoice.html
 
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1) “Doc Fix” Problem Grows More Expensive

We have been warning about the legally mandated cuts in Medicare (and TRICARE) payments to doctors for several years, an issue that is described by the shorthand term “doc fix.” The problem grew in prominence last year when Congress passed measures that only stopped the cuts for a few months at a time before they needed to act again.

The last temporary measure they passed blocked the cuts through February 29 of this year, so now the time is at hand to come up with another “fix” of some sort. However, the cost to permanently stop the cuts has ballooned just since last November. That’s when the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) calculated the cost to repeal the cuts would be $290 billion. This week they came out with a new estimate that said the cost to repeal now would be $316 billion. The fact is the cost to fix the problem will increase each year that Congress refuses to permanently repeal the cuts. They are supposedly working on it now, but with the current climate in Congress, in addition to this being an election year, we’re not betting they’ll do anything more than come up with another temporary “fix.” TREA strongly opposes any cutback in reimbursement fees because TRICARE/TRICARE For Life payments to doctors are directly tied to Medicare rates and many doctors have said they will stop taking new Medicare/TRICARE/TFL patients if their payments are reduced.
The big issue they have to solve is how to pay to fix the program. $316 billion is a lot of money, even in Washington, and since raising taxes to pay for anything is so controversial they have to find money elsewhere. On Tuesday of this week the CBO said it estimates that the troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan will save the government $838 billion over ten years and there are at least three proposals going around about how to use those funds. President Obama wants it for infrastructure projects while some Democrats want it to pay for the payroll tax cuts. However, last fall other Democrats were pushing to use the funds to pay to fix the Medicare doctor reimbursement cutbacks. At the time Republicans rejected that idea as just a political gimmick, but now prominent Republicans have endorsed the idea as a way to finally fix the problem without raising taxes or cutting programs.

TREA is watching this closely but in the meantime, we urge you to call your Senators and Representative and tell them that fixing the Medicare cuts is urgent.

2) U.S. Chamber of Commerce Continues Veterans’ Hiring Push
(Today in Indianapolis During Super Bowl Weekend)

Since March 2011 the U.S. Chamber of Chambers has worked on its “Hiring Our Heroes” to keep its pledge of holding 100 veterans job fairs that connect 100,000 with employers in one year. So far they have held 82 in the project “Hiring Our Heroes.” Over 84,000 veterans and military spouses have attended at least one of the fairs. Over 7,300 veterans and military spouses and 60 wounded warriors have found employment through the program. Today they are holding one in Indianapolis during Super Bowl weekend. Happily they do not plan to stop after they reach their March 2012 goal. Below please find a partial list of the “Hiring Our Heroes” Job Fairs that are presently scheduled for the rest of the year. New fairs are added regularly so if you are interested please go to:

http://www.uschamber.com/veterans

Here you can get up to date information and register for the program and notices. Here are the next few fairs with times and venues.

February 9, 2012
Hiring Our Heroes - Atlanta, GA
11:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Turner Field (Home of the Atlanta Braves)
755 Hank Aaron Drive
Atlanta, GA 30315

February 10, 2012
Hiring Our Heroes - Fayetteville, NC
9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Crown Center
1960 Coliseum Drive
Fayetteville, NC 28306

February 13, 2012
Hiring Our Heroes - Charlotte (Concord), NC
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Embassy Suites
5400 John Q. Hammons Drive NW
Concord, NC

And here are the places where hiring fairs will be throughout the year:

Hiring Fairs:

Bakersfield, CA
February 16

Richmond, VA
February 21

Washington, DC
February 23

Lawton, OK
February 23

Tampa Bay, FL
February 23

Seattle, WA
February 24

Dallas, TX
March 1

Philadelphia, PA
March 2

Colorado Springs, CO
March 2

Columbia, SC
March 6

Pittsburgh, PA
March 9

Springfield, MO
March 15

Smyrna, GA
March 16

Nashville, TN
March 17

Columbus, OH
March 20

Fort Carson, CO - Wounded Warrior Hiring Event
March 21

Eau Claire, WI
March 27

Chicago, IL
March 28

Fort Hood, TX
March 28

New York City, NY
March 28

Fort Mitchell, KY
March 28

Philadelphia, PA
March 29

Louisville, KY
March 29

Biloxi, MS
April 1

El Paso, TX
April 3

Grand Rapids, MI
April 6

Dearborn/Detroit, MI
April 11

Houston, TX
April 13

Albany, NY
April 17

St. Louis, MO
April 19

Mobile, AL
April 19

Fort Belvoir, VA - Wounded Warrior Hiring Event
April 24

Birmingham, AL
April 24

Buffalo, NY
May 2

Montgomery, AL
May 3

Jackson, MS
May 8

New Orleans, LA
May 11

Jacksonville, FL
May 15

Orlando, FL
May 18

Fort Bragg, NC - Wounded Warrior Hiring Event
May 23

Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, MD
May 24

Miami, FL
May 25

Warwick, RI
May 25

Atlanta,GA
May 29

Raleigh, NC
June 1

Puerto Rico
June 1

Greensboro/Winston-Salem, NC
June 5

Omaha, NE
June 12

Kansas City, MO
June 15

Oklahoma City, OK
June 19

New York City, NY
June 21

Redmond, OR
June 26

Fort Carson, CO - Wounded Warrior Hiring Event
August 1

Fort Belvoir, VA - Wounded Warrior Hiring Event
August 29

Naperville, IL
October 24

Camp Lejeune, NC - Wounded Warrior Hiring Event
October 31

Fort Carson, CO - Wounded Warrior Hiring Event
November 28

Fort Belvoir, VA - Wounded Warrior Hiring Event
December 12

This is a wonderful program that whether you have a job or not you should look into. TREA will continue to report on it.

3) Obama to Announce Veterans Job Corps

From the Washington Post:

President Obama will announce details today, Friday February 3, 2012 for a $1 billion “Veterans Job Corps” that the White House says will put up to 20,000 veterans to work over the next five years on projects to preserve and restore national parks and other federal, state and local lands.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric K. Shinseki on Thursday described the program as “a bold new effort” to lower the high unemployment rate for post-Sept. 11 military veterans, which stood at 13.1 percent in December. The government estimates that 250,000 post-Sept. 11 veterans are unemployed.

Obama proposed the corps in his State of the Union address last month, describing it as “enlisting our veterans in the work of rebuilding our nation.” The Veterans Job Corps will involve projects such as repairing trails, roads, levees and recreational facilities, according to the White House. Other work could include providing visitor programs, restoring habitat, protecting cultural resources, eradicating invasive species and cutting brush to reduce the risk of forest fires

At an appearance Friday at an Arlington County firehouse, Obama is also expected to announce that the budget to be released this month includes $5 billion in funding proposed in the American Jobs Act to spur police and firefighter hiring in 2012. Preferences for the grants will go to communities that hire post-9/11 veterans. Obama said in his address last month that his administration will “help our communities hire veterans as cops and firefighters, so that America is as strong as those who defend her.”

The White House also is announcing an expansion of entrepreneur training for service members leaving the military.

TREA will keep you posted on this initiative.

4) House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Lowering the Rate of Unemployment for the National Guard

On Thursday, February 2, 2012 the House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, chaired by Representative Marlin A. Stutzman (R-IN), held an oversight hearing regarding the unemployment rate of members of the National Guard. TREA was represented at the hearing by Deputy Legislative Director Mike Saunders.

Currently, the unemployment rate for veterans as a whole is about 5 percent higher than the national average, and it is even higher for Guardsmen. The actual number varies from state to state. For members of the National Guard aged 18-24, the unemployment rate approaches 40 percent nationally, well above the rate for their age cohort as a whole. Among female veterans, the numbers are even higher.

Ted Daywalt, CEO and President of VetJobs.com, a website that connects veterans with veteran-friendly employers (available at www.vetjobs.com), said that on Monday he receive twenty requests from South Carolina National Guardsmen for employment services, since they had just been terminated.

He suggested that they were terminated because the Friday before the Governor of South Carolina had announced that South Carolina’s Guard units would be deploying to Afghanistan. If National Guardsmen are terminated by their employer prior to deployment, then the Uniform Servicemember Employment and Re-employment Rights Act (USERRA) does not apply.
It is loopholes like this that TREA suspects will be used more and more often as the National Guard and Reserve take on more of an “Operational Reserve” role in the years to come. We will be vigilant, and we will seek to enhance USERRA protections so these types of abuses do not go unchallenged.

Regarding female veterans, Mr. Daywalt said that, under questioning from Representative Linda Sanchez (D-CA) that not all employers look kindly upon women with young children, or young women of child-bearing age and that he tries to direct them towards employers with robust child-care services and flexible work schedules of the type that raising and family often demands.

Mr. Daywalt also suggested that this might be part of the reason female Guard members have a higher unemployment rate than Guard members as a whole: employers know that extra sacrifices will have to be made for them, and they are unwilling (or unable) to make those sacrifices.
One last interesting note from the hearing was the suggestion that the healthcare costs of active Guard members and their families be borne by their respective states, instead of employers. Currently, employers have to pay healthcare premiums for deployed Guard members, and health insurance companies are allowed to pocket those premiums while not providing any healthcare.

If Guard members have their healthcare costs subsidized by their respective state, then 35% of the cost of hiring them is eliminated. This can only have a positive effect on the national rate of unemployment among the National Guard. TREA will be looking in to this proposal to see if it merits possible legislation on Capitol Hill during this session.

5) Proposal to Cut Federal Workers Would Avoid More Defense Cuts

Yesterday Senate Republicans unveiled a plan that they say would avoid or delay the automatic cuts in defense spending that are scheduled for January 2013. Their plan would cut the federal civilian workforce by five percent and freeze the pay of federal civilian employees for two and one-half years.

They also stated the plan would delay cuts in domestic programs that are scheduled to take effect at the same time. Many believe this is an effort to gain Democratic support for their idea.

According to Senator Jon Kyle of Arizona, there would be no layoffs or firings. Rather, when federal employees retire or quit their jobs two out of three of those positions would not be filled.

Democratic reaction to the plan was not available as we go to press.

6) Perpetuating the Erroneous “Ticking Bomb” View of Veterans

Here is an Article from the VA warning about the tendency to write about veterans as dangerous and unstable. As many of you remember the view of the media after the Vietnam was indeed that veterans were walking time bombs. Not only was this attitude in the newspaper reporting it occurred in TV shows and movies. This attitude can make it extremely hard for veterans to find good employment. TREA is watching the media to help to correct such assumptions and attitudes. We ask that if you see similar articles that you inform us about them as well as responding to them yourself. Thank you.

January 27, 2012 by Alex Horton
Department of Veterans Affairs “VAantage Point"

A few weeks ago, we warned against an increasingly prevalent narrative in news: That war Veterans are violent, unstable, and dangerous. I explained why that simply isn’t the case, and how those aspersions can hurt Vets and deepen the divide between us and civilians.

Thursday, the national media moved a step closer to establishing this unfortunate characterization as conventional wisdom in the newsroom. USA Today, a national newspaper second to only the Wall Street Journal in distribution, published a story with a headline brimming with violent imagery:

Police Get Help With Vets Who Are Ticking Bombs

In an age where millions of people get news from sources like Twitter, or simply glance at newspaper leads during morning coffee, headlines often inform readers what they need to know. In this case, it’s that police officers need reinforcement in a growing battle with “ticking bomb” Veterans. It doesn’t matter that the program might be useful in helping law enforcement recognize issues facing some folks after returning from combat. The headline paints the story of Veterans—any Vet, really—as a ticking bomb, primed to explode.

USA TODAY publishes stories on Veterans issues all the time—and typically they’re balanced and informative. On the same day this article ran, they published a story on the status of homeless Veterans. We could be talking about that story, but unfortunately, we have to refute that Vets are violent, unstable psychos.

From the article:

“We just can’t use the blazing-guns approach anymore when dealing with disturbed individuals who are highly trained in all kinds of tactical operations, including guerrilla warfare,” said Dennis Cusick, executive director of the Upper Midwest Community Policing Institute. “That goes beyond the experience of SWAT teams.”

That brings up important questions: Who are the disturbed individuals and how prevalent are they? Is this threat common enough to justify such a response? USA TODAY continues:

There is no data that specifically tracks police confrontations with suspects currently or formerly associated with the military.

This is an issue. After noting the perceived problem, the reporter acknowledges that data on the topic is sparse—or non-existent.

But an Army report issued this year found that violent felonies in the service were up 1% while non-violent felonies increased 11% between 2010 and 2011.

During that time, however, crime in much of the nation declined.
 While understanding the relation to crime dropping “in much of the nation,” the significance of a one percent increase in service-related violent felonies in the last year seems unclear.

Ultimately, the story hinges on bizarre statistical framing. The reporter acknowledges that the kind of data used to make a claim about military-wide increases in violent crime does not exist. Instead, we are presented with a minor uptick in violence—which may or may not be indicative a large or even growing problem.

USA TODAY continues by highlighting the story of a single incident in Fayetteville, North Carolina in which a Veteran exchanged gunfire with local police. Coupled with two recent news reports out of Washington State and Los Angeles, a shallow conclusion could be that this represents the trend of “ticking bomb” Veterans. But isolated cases do not a trend make. And while it’s easy to make that presumptive connection, it’s irresponsible to do so without hard evidence.

Darrel Stephens, executive director of the Major Cities (Police) Chiefs Association, said the type of training proposed by the Justice Department represents “one piece of the challenge” in dealing with an increasing number of mentally ill suspects.

Again, we have the assertion of “an increasing number of mentally ill” Veteran suspects, but no empirical data to back that up. (And now others have begun to take note. Ron Capps, a contributor to TIME’s Battleland, called the headline “absurd.”)

The ticking bomb metaphor, as inflammatory and unacceptable as it was, is a perfect term for this perception of an “increasing number of mentally ill suspects.” The melodramatic language conveys a surprising and violent event. A bomb is bad enough, but a ticking bomb? You never know when a ticking bomb will go off; that’s what’s so heinous, so destructive about it. You may not even now there’s a bomb at all. The only thing you do know is that it will explode at some point. The reader of this story, then—given a story so devoid of context and facts and appropriate measurements and statistics—is left to conclude all Veterans are walking powder kegs. They have always ticked, and it’s only a matter of time before an explosion.

If Veterans are ticking bombs, we at least owe it to them to provide non-anecdotal evidence before making such an accusation. And in this case, USA TODAY failed to do that.

7) The February issue of The VOICE E-mag is available online at: http://www.trea.org/TheVoice/TheVoice.html

TREA FOR 27JANUARY2012
Both Houses of Congress are back in town. The President gave his State of the Union Address on Tuesday. Even before the speech was given we have been swamped with reactions by members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. Yup the 2nd year of the 112th session has officially begun (and the election year is continuing.)

1) In State of the Union Speech President Praises U.S. Military/Must Wait Till Next Month To See Definite Proposals
2) But DoD Secretary Panetta Gives Us Hints
3) Veterans and Beneficiaries See Their 2012 Cost of Living Adjustment
4) Bill Targets For-Profit Colleges That Swindle Veterans
5) 2011 Army Suicides Down, Sex Assaults Up
6) Detroit to Host VA Small Business Conference, Hiring Fair
7) VA Launches Acquisition Internship For Returning Veterans
8) Senator Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) Suffers Serious Stroke
 
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1) In State of the Union Speech President Praises U.S. Military/ Must Wait Till Next Month to See Definite Proposals

On Tuesday evening when President Obama was walking into the chamber to present his State of the Union Address he shook Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta’s hand and said: “Good Job tonight.” We did not know what he was referring to then but the next morning we learned that American Commanders had dropped into Somalia and rescued American aid worker (as well as a Danish aid worker.) They killed 9 Somali pirates.

While he did not mention the rescue on Tuesday evening he both started and ended his speech by praising the U.S. military and focusing on the death of Osama Bin Laden. He clearly stated that the federal government needed to help returning veterans and noted that the Department of Veterans Affairs’ budget had increased every year he had been in office. What does this mean for possible cuts in military retiree and other personnel benefits (which are paid for by the DoD budget?) Who knows? The President’s proposed budget will be released in February and then we will know the kind of fight we are facing.

2) But DOD Secretary Panetta Gives Us Hints

On Thursday Secretary Leon Panetta with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dempsey held a press conference to get a jump on expected criticism and explain parts of his 5 year budget (though the explanation gave us no proposed dollar amounts.) The Secretary repeated that he had been directed by the White House to cut $259 billion in the next 5 years and $487 billion over the full decade. He said that in total he has $500 billion less than he had anticipated having through 2017. He said that his proposals include cutting the size of the forces, limiting military pay raises, closing bases, limiting weapons systems, newly purchased planes and ships, and increasing health care costs for military retirees. He said that there will be a drawdown of Army personnel (from its recent peak of 570,000 to 490,000) and of the Marines (from 202,000 to 182,000.)

He said that the President was going to call for another BRAC round. Again, no details were given-that must wait for the Administration’s roll-out of its proposed budget in February. But the cuts and increases will not happen if Congress does not approve. And members of Congress have already started to voice their general objections of these general proposals. Reacting to the idea of a new round of BRAC, (something that is always extremely unpopular with Congress especially when a round finally ended only last fall.) Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan) said until some of the European bases are closed, “I am not going to be able to support” closing bases back home. And the Chairman of the House Armed Service Committee Rep. Buck McKeon said: “These cuts reflect President Obama’s vision of an America weakened, not strengthened by our men and women in uniform. To be clear, the impacts of these cuts are far deeper than Congress envisioned.”

We must remember that different members of Congress will be trying to protect a host of different programs (including military end strength, military bases in their home districts and states, weapon systems and much more.) We need to make sure that Congress focuses on the retirement promises already made to and relied on by military retirees. TREA will continue to fight this crucial fight and urges all of you to individually contact your members of Congress about the need to protect all your earned benefits.

3) Veterans and Beneficiaries See Their 2012 Cost Of Living Adjustment

On January 1 the 3.6% COLA increase has been applied to the VA’s compensation and pension benefit. The COLA (which is by law the same percentage as the Social Security COLA.) means that the Service Connected Disability rates will range from $127 per month for a 10% to $2,769 for 100% disability. The basic Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) rate has risen from $1154 to $1195. The full rates for all effected programs are available on the Internet at: www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/Rates/#BM01 or you can call the VA at 1-800-827-1000.

4) Bill Targets For-Profit Colleges That Swindle Veterans

For-profit colleges that solicit soldiers and veterans will face proposed legislation to curb recruiting, according to Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (R-IL), the U.S. Senate’s No. 2 Democrat said.

Congress, the Education Department, the Justice Department and state attorneys general are scrutinizing the sales practices and student-loan default rates of for-profit colleges, which received almost $32 billion in federal grants and loans in the 2009-10 school year.

Durbin’s proposal will “reduce incentives for for-profit colleges to target and aggressively recruit service members and veterans,” according to his office. While details are still scarce, he may be referring the for-profit colleges using servicemembers’ education benefits as a way to get around on a cap on the percentage of federal money that makes up their yearly income.

Eight for-profit college companies --including Apollo Group Inc. (APOL), which owns University of Phoenix, the largest chain by enrollment; and Education Management Corp. (EDMC), the second-biggest --received about $626 million in veterans’ education benefits in the most recent academic year, the Senate education committee said in a report in November.

Durbin’s legislation will create “barriers to critical job-training and educational programs for veterans,” Brian Moran, interim president of the Washington-based Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, which represents for-profits, said in a statement.

TREA is supportive of efforts to cut down on abuses of former servicemembers as they attempt to become educated and will work to ensure that access to educational institutions remains accessible to as many veterans as possible.

5) 2011 Army Suicides Down, Sex Assaults Up

The Pentagon reported last week that the number of suicides in the US Army fell last year for the first time since 2004, but that sexual assaults increased.

The number of suicides among active service members and reservists fell to 278 in 2011 from 304 in 2010. Among only active Army soldiers, the total rose by five to 164. The number does not count those recently separated from the service.

Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli said that he thinks the process of de-stigmatizing behavioral and mental health issues has begun in order to get help to people in need.

The bad news in the report is that the number of sexual assaults rose to 2,290 in 2011. That is up 64 percent from 2006. In six out of 10 assaults, the aggressors had been consuming alcohol. Most of the victims were female soldiers in their first 18 months of service, with most knowing their attacker. The report also cited a sharp increase in cases of domestic violence and child abuse involving service members.

Chiarelli said post-traumatic stress (PTS) is linked to many of these issues: many of those injured in combat have suffered brain trauma, which has been linked to aggression. According to Chiarelli, a person diagnosed with PTS is three times more likely to participate in some kind of partner aggression.

TREA strongly endorses the movement to eliminate the stigma associated with PTS to ensure that people get treatment for whatever issues they are facing: alcohol problems, drug abuse problems, prescription-drugs abuse problems, anger management problems, or spouse and child abuse. The consequences of these problems are too terrible to leave untreated.

6) Detroit to Host VA Small Business Conference, Hiring Fair

Help for Veterans Who Own Businesses, Seek Jobs

VA Press Release:

WASHINGTON (Jan. 25, 2012) – The National Veterans Small Business Conference, the government’s premier event for Veteran-owned small businesses, is coming to Detroit’s Cobo Center June 25-29, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced today.

VA also announced that a “VA for Vets” Hiring Fair will be held during the conference for Veterans looking for careers in the public and private sectors. The conference is expected to attract thousands of Veterans, business owners and federal employees, and bring an estimated $3 million in direct spending to the city.

“VA is committed to bringing more Veteran-owned businesses into the public-private partnership,” said VA Chief of Staff John Gingrich. “In addition to the National Veterans Small Business Conference, our Detroit Hiring Fair will provide Veterans with on-the-spot job opportunities and interviews, while also offering career search classes and one-on-one counseling.”

Last year’s National Veteran Small Business Conference and Expo in New Orleans drew almost 5,000 attendees, and more than 6,000 participants are expected this year.

The Detroit Hiring Fair builds upon VA’s success Jan. 18 in Washington at which a partnership of federal agencies and private industry attracted over 4,100 Veterans and resulted in over 2,600 on-the-spot interviews and more than 500 tentative job offers.

“These events are part of Secretary Shinseki’s ongoing efforts to help Veterans find employment in both the public and private sectors,” said Gingrich. “As the President said in yesterday’s State of the Union address, Veterans are crucial to

This year’s conference will include an open house that gives Veterans the chance to learn the wide range of resources available to help them with their own businesses. Also available will be the VetGovPartner online platform, which enables networking, viewing the business profiles of all participants, and identifying business opportunities with more than 400 government procurement decision makers in attendance.

Known historically as the world’s capital for the transportation industry, the Detroit metro area is reinventing itself with six booming industries: medical research, defense, entertainment, green tech, urban farming, and aeronautics. About 330,000 Veterans are served by the city’s VA medical center, and more than 704,000 Veterans live in Michigan.

VA invites all interested persons and businesses to attend. More information is available at www.nationalveteransconference.com. Registration for the conference begins Friday, January 27.

7) VA Launches Acquisition Internship for Returning Veterans

“Warriors to Workforce” Offered by VA Academy

VA Press Release:

WASHINGTON (Jan. 25, 2012) – A special internship to prepare newly-returned Veterans to become federal contracting specialists was launched recently at the Acquisitions Academy of the Department of Veterans Affairs in Frederick, Md.

“I’m pleased to welcome our new interns to the VA family,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki, who gave the keynote address Jan. 19. “These Veterans know the importance of integrity, and have learned to work together in diverse teams to accomplish difficult objectives. Those are skills we value in our professional acquisition corps.”

Called “Warriors to Workforce,” the internship is a three-year program. Participants will earn the 24 educational credits in business required to become contracting professionals. The program includes courses in leadership, technical acquisition training and on-the-job experience.

“This program is possible because of VA’s steadfast commitment to Veteran employment,” said Lisa Doyle, chancellor of the VA Acquisition Academy. “These Veterans have served and sacrificed, and it is our turn to give back by making sure they have gainful employment when they return. We hope this program will serve as a model for other federal agencies and private organizations.”

At graduation, participants will have taken the required coursework to achieve a Federal Acquisitions Certification in Contracting, which is recognized throughout the federal sector as evidence of solid education in the career field. Successful graduates will be eligible for contract specialist positions at the GS-11 level.

In the past two years, the government’s contracting force has shrunk, although the volume and complexity of contracts has increased. VA opened its Acquisitions Academy in September 2008 in response to the growing shortage of contracting professionals, both for VA and other federal agencies.

Twenty-three Veterans are enrolled in the inaugural class of the “Warriors to Workforce” internship. Between them, they have seven Purple Hearts, two Bronze Stars and over 170 years of military experience.

More information about VA’s Acquisitions Academy is available on the Internet at www.acquisitionacademy.va.gov.

8) Senator Mark Kirk (R-Illinois) suffers serious stroke

Senator Mark Kirk (R-Illinois), one of the new members of Congress with military experience, suffered a stroke last weekend in Chicago. Senator Kirk joined the Navy Reserves in 1989 as an intelligence officer and currently holds the rank of Commander. He served on active duty in the former Yugoslavia in 1999 and in Operation Northern Watch in Iraq in 2000. He is presently on several important committees including Appropriations.