Programs
VVA National President Presents 2021 Legislative Priorities before Joint Session of Congress
March 4, 2021
Good morning, Chairmen Tester and Takano, Ranking Members Bost and Moran, and distinguished members of your respective committees. I first want to acknowledge you, Senator Tester, on your elevation to the chairmanship of your critically…
Women Veterans Committee Update November/December 2020
November 25, 2020
BY KATE O’HARE-PALMER, CHAIR VVA’s Women Veterans Committee has been thrust into the age of virtual meetings. We join the world as we get accustomed to the shelter-in-place COVID-19 restrictions. I offer my condolences to…
PTSD/Substance Abuse Committee Update November/December 2020
November 25, 2020
BY THOMAS C. HALL, PH.D., CHAIR There is no known cure for post-traumatic stress disorder. But PTSD symptoms can be managed to a point at which they no longer interfere with a person’s ability to…
POW/MIA Affairs Committee Update November/December 2020
November 25, 2020
BY GRANT COATES, CHAIR The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced September 25 that U.S. Air Force Maj. Paul A. Avolese, 35, of East Meadow, N.Y., was accounted for on September 21. On July 7,…
Minority Affairs Committee Update November/December 2020
November 25, 2020
BY GUMERSINDO GOMEZ, CHAIR Recently, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Nydia Velazquez (D-N.Y.) took a significant step toward initiating a serious process of self-determination and decolonization that puts the people of Puerto Rico at the…
Agent Orange & Dioxin Committee Update November/December 2020
November 25, 2020
BY MAYNARD KADERLIK, CHAIR This column is short and to the point. In the last issue I described the confusion the VA has created with P.L.114-315, the kids’ law. The committee has met on this…
Women Veterans Committee Update September/October 2020
September 10, 2020
BY KATE O’HARE-PALMER, CHAIR These past few months we have been working on a report with VVA’s Veterans Health Committee and its Subcommittee on the Aging Veteran Experience to review the effects of the COVID-19…
Veterans Incarcerated and in the Justice System Committee Update September/October 2020
September 10, 2020
BY DOMINICK YEZZO, CHAIR What follows is a letter I sent in July to an inmate at the Warm Springs Correctional Center in Carson City, Nevada: I receive hundreds of letters from veteran inmates. I…
Veterans Health Care September/October 2020
September 10, 2020
BY CHUCK BYERS, CHAIR These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it…
PTSD/Substance Abuse Committee Update September/October 2020
September 10, 2020
BY THOMAS C. HALL, PH.D., CHAIR As the chair of VVA’s National PTSD and Substance Abuse Committee, I, and other mental health experts, have relied on guidance from the Department of Defense’s Center for the…