VA Loan Updates

Veterans disability payments should be increased immediately by up to 25 percent as part of a sweeping overhaul designed to compensate for a wounded warrior’s lost “quality of life,” a special commission recommended Wednesday.

The 2 1/2-year study released by the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission offers the most comprehensive look yet at the ailing government benefits system that provides millions of injured veterans with a total of about $30 billion a year in payments.

Tracking the findings of recent reports that detailed flaws in veterans care, the 13-member congressional commission concluded in its 544-page report that both the Pentagon and Veterans Affairs Department fall woefully short in providing adequate mental health care as well as timely and fair disability payments.

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12 single-family homes also get funding

Southwestern Illinois Development Authority has agreed to provide funding for the metro-east’s first veteran’s homeless shelter.

The agency has also agreed to help fund construction of 12 single-family homes in the Emerson Park neighborhood

The shelter, to be known as St. Joseph Center, would provide assistance to as many as 26 metro-east-area veterans at one time. A former armory located at 48th and State streets in East St. Louis will be converted into a 26-bed shelter with a $870,000 grant from the Illinois Housing Development Authority and a $154,000 construction grant from the Chicago Federal Home Loan Bank through a sponsorship with the Bank of Edwardsville.

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The Veterans of Foreign Wars will celebrate its 108th birthday in September. The organization was established Sept. 29, 1899.

The VFW and its auxiliaries have made a difference in our communities by promoting good will, patriotism and student scholarship. The group has been the leader in advocating for improving pay and benefits for the nation’s uniformed forces and its millions of veterans. The VFW spearheaded establishment of the Veterans Administration, led development of a national cemetery system, lobbied for a GI Bill of Rights and fought for benefits to Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange. To demonstrate support for the nation’s military troops involved in the war effort, VFW posts worldwide have sent tons of morale-boosting items and phone cards to the deployed troops.

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MOBILE, Ala. — While wounded Marine Sgt. Greg Edwards struggles to walk on artificial legs — a reality in a life rebuilt after Iraq — he won’t have to worry much longer about where his family will live.

The Taunton, Mass.-based Homes for Our Troops will build its first specially adapted house in Alabama for Edwards, his wife, Christina, and their two young daughters, said Kirt Rebello, a spokesman for the nonprofit organization.

Once a general contractor is found, Rebello hopes the house can be built in six months. Property in Mobile County is being purchased this month for the Edwards’ three-bedroom, two-bath home.

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With hundreds of veterans returning to eastern Iowa and western Illinois the past year, adding to the many from past wars, organizers decided it was once again time for a Veterans’ Benefits Fair.

The welcome home event will have booths of different groups that provide services for veterans as well as seminar sessions on topics including mental health and family support, said Kirt Sickels, public relations specialist for the Iowa City VA Medical Center and Veterans’ Benefits Fair organizer.

Fair participants will include the:

• Iowa City VA Medical Center,

• Veterans Benefits Administration,

• U.S. Department of Labor,

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National Guard medic Patrick Campbell was a year into law school at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., when he volunteered for a deployment to Iraq. Upon his return, the California native found his student loans in default.

“I was getting two letters a day from them and phone calls every morning from people telling me I was being put in collections agencies because you haven’t been paying back your loans,” he said.

Students aren’t usually required to repay their loans until after graduation. But because of his deployment, Campbell had been out of school for over a year, triggering the repayment obligation.

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Says help for veterans was part of session 

Speaking to a small group of Yuma-area veterans Thursday evening, U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., said that lots of legislation dealing with veteran-related issues had been passed in Congress during the last session.

“There was a flurry of activity,” Grijalva said. “I believe support for our troops should be a mandate, not a slogan. The words have to mean something.”

Grijalva, whose district includes Yuma County, went on to say some of that legislation dealt with health care services and benefits for veterans.

Meeting at American Legion Post 19 by invitation, Grijalva said that in addition to veterans from previous wars, the country now must deal with making sure veterans who are returning from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are getting the medical care they need.

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Cloy Richards was done a wrong by the Marines. His condition is a medical one and needs to be corrected. If he had been medically retired instead of discharged, he wouldn’t have lost out on a host of benefits and future income potential. I have been dealing with Veterans Affairs for fourteen years and was medically retired from the Air Force in 1993; Richards should have been rated as “individually unemployable” by the VA and paid at the 100 percent level, or about $2,400 per month.

On a side note, the St. Louis VA Regional Office has a history of cheating veterans out of what they are due. I am one of those vets and I’m currently fighting with them over my benefits. Also, Congress is still refusing to pay disabled retirees their retirement. We lose one dollar for every dollar we receive from the VA.

I’m including the following Web sites so those who need help can get it: The Veteran’s Benefits Network (http://p203.ezboard.com/bvetbenefits) and the PEB Forum (www.pebforum.com), which is for those who are currently on active duty and are facing medical discharge, or those, like Cloy, who are injured and should have received a medical retirement instead of a regular discharge.

Brian Lind, St. Louis

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The VA has hired about 3,000 mental health professionals during the past two years to meet the needs of veterans suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and other psychological conditions.

The VA hopes to hire another 1,000 psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatry nurses and social workers this year to staff hospitals, outpatient clinics and veterans centers.

VA officials say the hiring boom shows the agency is addressing the needs of veterans suffering from psychological trauma.

But, some veterans groups say the VA is still playing catch-up and will have to do more to handle the anticipated tidal wave of mental health problems and traumatic brain injuries from Iraq and Afghanistan.

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PITTSFORD — Edwin Kinnen grew up in the Buffalo suburb of Lancaster and said being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1943 at age 18 opened up a new world for him.

“It provided me an opportunity to know myself. It got me out of a small town,” said Kinnen, 82. “It was a tremendous experience.”

He was stationed in France during World War II and served a little more than two years. Kinnen then used the GI Bill to further his education, earning electrical engineering degrees at the University of Buffalo and Yale and Purdue universities. He retired in 1993 from the University of Rochester as a professor in the electrical engineering department.

Kinnen was among nine veterans who received military honors Thursday during a program at the Pittsford Community Library.

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