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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: veterans

veterans stories: 73 news summaries

1 - 20 of 73 Stories | 1 2 3 4 Next >>

Injured Vets Seeking Closure Return to Iraq

Operation Proper Exit reveals war's progress to wounded

(Newser) - The military has been aiding injured veterans to return to Iraq to help them find closure and assure them that their sacrifices were worth it. Operation Proper Exit—believed to be the first such program to facilitate vets' return to a battlefield while a war is still in progress—has... More »

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Iraq veterans US military Wounded Warriors PTSD Iraq veterans Iraq war injured

 WWII GI Returns 
 Looted 16th Century 
 German Books 

Vet took 400-year-old legal volumes home as souvenirs

(Newser) - Retired optometrist Robert Thomas handed a pair of books he filched as an 18-year-old GI 64 years ago to the German ambassador in a ceremony at the National Archives this week. Thomas, 83, found the 400-year-old legal volumes stashed among millions of others in a salt mine while inspecting recently... More »

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ANALYSIS

 Civilian Contractors Are the 'Vietnam Vets' of Our Time

Workers injured in war zones are the hidden cost of Iraq, Afghanistan wars

(Newser) - Thousands of Americans have come home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who are veterans in all but name, writes T. Christian Miller—and the benefits afforded veterans. The military's unprecedented reliance on civilian contractors has left thousands injured and disabled with no safety net or public gratitude. Whether... More »

 War Games 
 Help Vets 
 Cope With 
 PTSD 

Psychologists say virtual reality allows vets to confront and overcome trauma

(Newser) - Using realistic war games to re-create the sights, sounds, and even smells of combat is helping veterans overcome post-traumatic stress disorder in several clinical trials. Games like Virtual Iraq—modeled on Full Spectrum Warrior—help psychologists bring patients back to traumatic events and break down mental barriers. Researchers say the... More »

(Newser) - RNC Chairman Michael Steele continued his simultaneous defense of and onslaught on Medicare today, writes Eric Kleefeld of Talking Points Memo. Dems are “proposing up to $550 billion in cuts or shifting of funds out of Medicare, and I don't know what that means,” Steele said on Fox... More »

 Reenactors Take 
 on Vietnam War 

Despite controversy, re-created conflict gets warm reception

(Newser) - Revolutionary and Civil War reenactments are a familiar sight—but now, one of the most controversial wars in US history is in reruns, the AP reports. Houston, Mississippi, and Pennsylvania have all hosted Vietnam war reenactments. “We do it to honor these guys and to tell them, 'You weren't... More »

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veterans Vietnam veteran reenactment Vietnam War strange stuff

MUSIC REVIEW
(Newser) - Radiohead made waves when they let fans download their last album for whatever price they wanted, yet a new online-only track has been released in the past week to far less fanfare. "Harry Patch (In Memory Of)" commemorates the last British veteran of World War I, who died last... More »

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music veterans music downloads British military Radiohead Thom Yorke World War I

(Newser) - Exposure to Agent Orange appears to increase the risk of developing heart disease and Parkinson’s, a congressionally mandated report says. The carcinogenic defoliant has not been definitively linked with the illnesses, but a professor who led the report says there is “limited or suggestive evidence of an association.... More »

World's
Oldest Man
Dies at 113

British man was one
of the last surviving WWI veterans

(Newser) - Britain's oldest surviving veteran of World War I has died aged 113, the BBC reports. Henry Allingham, who became the world's oldest man after the death of a Japanese 113-year-old last month, passed away peacefully at a care home for veterans. Politicians and veterans' groups paid tribute to Allingham, who... More »

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(Newser) - An apparently harried congressional aide picked the wrong woman to threaten with police action, Fox News reports. Marianne Stringer, widow of a Vietnam veteran, was petitioning congressmen to oppose a decrease in benefits for veterans’ spouses. When she politely emailed the office of a reticent lawmaker, the aide shot back... More »

Long Buried, PTSD Emerges in WWII Veterans

1 in 20 surviving vets affected

(Newser) - For many World War II veterans, decades-old memories of war aren’t as deeply buried as they once believed. The veterans administration estimates that 5% of the 2.5 million US World War II vets suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Older vets came of age... More »

Dogs Trained to Heal Iraq Vets' Mental Scars

'Psychiatric service' pooches respond to PTSD sufferers' needs

(Newser) - The golden retriever nuzzles his master as though he wants a treat, trots into the kitchen, and waits patiently. His master walks over and, under the pet’s watchful gaze, takes a series of pills. The dog wags his tail with approval. He is a psychiatric-service dog, part of a... More »

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(Newser) - The new GI bill going into effect Aug. 1 is the biggest expansion of the program since World War II, but the benefits are far from uniform, the AP reports. The new system determines the money a vet gets for college on a state-by-state basis. Full tuition is guaranteed at... More »

(Newser) - Even before enlisting, World War II soldiers were made great by the “deprivations and lessons of the Great Depression,” Tom Brokaw writes in the Wall Street Journal. Shared sacrifice and lack of staple goods forged the outlook of the "Greatest Generation," and made the Army... More »

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OPINION
(Newser) - The recent Homeland Security report detailing right-wing extremist recruitment of veterans is “true, true, true,” Charles M. Blow writes in the New York Times. But “conservatives reacted by throwing a knee-jerk hissy fit,” suggesting that vets “were being vilified by a partisan document.”... More »

Napolitano Apologizes to Vets for Report

DHS had painted soldiers as prone to right-wing extremism

(Newser) - Janet Napolitano apologized today for language in a recent Homeland Security report suggesting that veterans were more likely to be wooed by far-right extremist groups, CNN reports. “The return of military veterans facing significant challenges,” said the report evaluating domestic threats, “could lead to the potential emergence... More »

 Special Courts 
 Deal With Problem Vets 

New system aims to rehabilitate returning troops

(Newser) - After returning from war, many “perfectly good kids” struggle with drugs and criminal behavior, but a new trend could help, the Los Angeles Times reports. Veterans courts are springing up around the country, offering an alternative route to justice—and recovery—for troubled former troops. “If they've been... More »

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Army Charity Hoards
Millions as Veterans Suffer

Army Emergency Relief fund's reserve dwarf its giving

(Newser) - A US Army charity is hoarding tens of millions of dollars while military families face record foreclosures and long deployments, the AP reports. Designed to dole out cash to veterans in financial crisis, Army Emergency Relief has padded reserves with $117 million and given or lent only $64 million. "... More »

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Senate Likes Shinseki for Veterans Affairs

War, economy burden system former Army general would inherit

(Newser) - Retired Gen. Eric Shinseki garnered bipartisan support for his Veterans Affairs Secretary nomination today in outlining his priorities before Congress, the Military Times reports. The former Army chief of staff admitted to little experience with veterans issues, but his vows to streamline the agency won support from the likes of... More »

Aiming to Right History, Group Sniffs Out Fake POWs 

Pretending to be war prisoner is legal, but vets say it dishonors the true heroes

(Newser) - When Richard Cayton told a Texas newspaper about his harrowing escape from captors in Vietnam, former Navy SEAL Steve Robinson thought something smelled fishy. He ran some quick checks, and told the newspaper that it had been lied to—Cayton had never been a prisoner of war. Sniffing out such... More »

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veterans fraud Green Beret Vietnam War prisoner of war Navy SEALs Special Forces

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