Top 10 Veterans News from Around the Country 09-08-08

September 8, 2008 by John Allen · Leave a Comment

Today’s Local News for Veterans

What’s Inside

1. Program Pairs Veterans With Corporate Mentors.
2. Bath VAMC Participating In National Suicide Prevention Week.
3. VA Awards San Antonio Care Contract
4. NYTimes Calls For Greater Access To War Dead.
5. Annual Agent Orange Talks Begin Between US, Vietnam.

1. Program Pairs Veterans With Corporate Mentors. The Washington Post (9/7, A4, Richburg, 696K) reports Sidney E. Goodfriend "spent 25 years as a banker on Wall Street, mostly at Merrill Lynch. … With his own money, and using his Wall Street connections, Goodfriend, 48, founded a group called American Corporate Partners, which pairs returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan with mentors from the corporate world. He has enlisted six companies — Campbell’s, PepsiCo, Home Depot, Verizon, General Electric and investment bank Morgan Stanley — that have each promised to offer returning vets 50 mentors, in eight cities."

2.      Bath VAMC Participating In National Suicide Prevention Week. The Elmira (NY) Star-Gazette (9/8) reports, "The Bath Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center will focus on communications and education for veterans, employees and the community in conjunction with National Suicide Prevention Week," which begins on Monday. There "will be two sessions open to caregivers, mental health professionals and concerned residents of the community, along with veterans and their families." The Star-Gazette also notes that the US VA "operates a national suicide prevention hotline."
      Local Leaders In Arizona Call For Better PTSD Outreach. On its website, KNVX-TV Phoenix, AZ (9/7, Raml) reported, "Soldiers are fighting a new battle when they return from war: post-traumatic stress disorder," or PTSD. It "is difficult to find exact number of those who suffer," but the Department of Veterans Affairs "believes the rate is about 15 percent." Local leaders, however, "want accurate numbers, better predictors for those likely to suffer this disorder, and an outreach program rather than waiting for soldiers to seek aid." The VA "has started airing public service announcements" that "offer confidential phone counseling for depressed and suicidal members of the US military."
      Military Couple Struggles To Cope With Husband’s PTSD. The Syracuse (NY) Post-Standard (9/8, Tobin) profiles Howard Draper, who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Draper was eventually diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, and in "the fall of 2007, the Department of Veterans Affairs authorized Draper for 30 percent disability status." The Post-Standard says Draper’s problems have put a strain on his marriage to fellow soldier Jordaine Probst.

3. VA Awards San Antonio Care Contract. In its "Contracts Awarded" column, the Washington Post (9/8, D4, Mbuya) reports, "C.R. Associates of Newington won a $16 million contract from the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide primary care for the San Antonio area."

4. NYTimes Calls For Greater Access To War Dead. The New York Times (9/8, A22) editorializes, "A worthy proposal that would lift" the Bush Administrations’ "veil" on the "human toll of the war in Iraq" is "drawing bipartisan support in the House. It would require the Pentagon to allow accredited journalists access to commemoration services and, most pointedly, the arrival ceremonies for flag-draped coffins coming home at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware." The Times concludes, "As the debate over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continues, the dead keep journeying home. Proper attention and reverence should be paid, in plain sight."

5. Annual Agent Orange Talks Begin Between US, Vietnam. The AP (9/8) reports the US and Vietnam "opened their third round of annual talks" Monday "on ways to limit the environmental effects of Agent Orange," a toxic defoliant the US "sprayed extensively during the Vietnam War." The "two sides are expected to announce plans for using" $3 million the US Congress "set aside in 2007 for the cleanup of dioxin, a highly toxic element of Agent Orange."
Agent Orange Exposure Said To Increase Risk Of Developing Prostate Cancer. In his "Veterans’ Journal" column in the Providence (RI) Journal (9/8), George W. Reilly reports, "Veterans who were exposed to the defoliant Agent Orange, in Vietnam or elsewhere, are twice as likely as other veterans to get prostate cancer, University of California at Davis researchers found in a study just published online by the journal Cancer." Prostate cancer in those veterans "also comes on earlier and is more aggressive, said Dr. Karim Chaime, chief resident in urology at UC Davis and the study’s lead author." The study "will be published in the Sept. 15 edition of Cancer, and Chaime hopes it will prompt the Department of Veterans Affairs to set more rigorous treatment standards."