WASHINGTON, May 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Testifying before a House subcommittee today, The American Legion said that veterans’ preference in the federal job market “is being unlawfully ignored by numerous agencies.”

“The reality is that employment opportunities are not being properly publicized,” said Joe Sharpe, the Legion’s economic division director, in his written testimony. “Federal agencies, as well as federal government contractors and subcontractors, are required by law to notify the Office of Personnel Management of job opportunities.

“But more often than not, these opportunities are never made available to the public,” he said.

Sharpe testified before the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, chaired by Rep. David Obey, D-Wis.

Sharpe said that such behavior on the part of some federal agencies makes the Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS) a critically important program, since it investigates violations of veterans’ preference policy and corrects unlawful practices.

“The mission of VETS is to promote the economic security of America’s veterans,” Sharpe said. “The American Legion is eager to see this program grow, and especially would like to see greater expansion of entrepreneurial-based, self-employment opportunity training.”

The American Legion has recommended about $340 million for fiscal 2011 to fund five Dept. of Labor programs created to serve veterans:

• Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS): Offers employment and training services to eligible veterans through non-competitive “Jobs for Veterans” state grant programs.
• Transition/Disabled Transition Assistance Programs (TAP/DTAP): Help servicemembers who are separating from active duty with their return to the civilian world and work force. ($267M, including VETS funding)
• Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program (HVRP): A competitive state-grant program for agencies and organizations that offer jobs to homeless veterans. ($50M)
• National Veterans’ Employment and Training Services Institute (NVTI): Ensures that staff for federal and state employment services are highly trained and proficient in dealing with veterans’ needs. ($6M)
• Veterans Workforce Investment Program (VWIP): Provides training and support services to veterans to lead to higher wages and long-term careers – especially those with service-connected disabilities, are recently separated from active duty, or have significant barriers to employment. ($20M)

Sharpe also recommended $61 million in funding for the Office of Personnel Management to improve compliance with veterans’ preference rights in the job market. He reminded the subcommittee that employment rights of veterans and servicemembers are covered by the Veterans’ Employment Opportunity Act of 1998 and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994.

The TAP and DTAP programs need to be expanded quickly, The American Legion says, to include many National Guard and reserve members whose businesses have suffered –or have been lost – while they were serving their country. While DoD estimates that 79 percent of active-duty troops attend TAP seminars, only 35 percent of reserve components do the same.

“These attendance numbers are a disservice to all transitioning servicemembers,” Sharpe said. The American Legion wants DoD to make its TAP and DTAP sessions mandatory for all servicemembers leaving active duty.

Discussing the VWIP program, Sharpe noted that current funding allows it to operate in only 15 states. “The problem is clearly a lack of adequate funding. The budget baseline needs to be increased to … train eligible veterans in all 50 states in FY 2011,” he said.

At the start of the hearing, Rep. Obey – who chairs the House Appropriations Committee – expressed frustration over congressional reluctance to fully fund programs favored by The American Legion and other veterans service organizations.

He said he favored almost all of the programs proposed by the score of testifying witnesses, but noted the combined cost would increase President Obama’s proposed FY 2011 budget by $14 billion. But in light of the massive federal deficit, Obey said, Congress is being asked to trim $3.5 billion from the president’s figure.

“Congress needs to realize that there are deficits that need to be considered other than federal budget deficits,” Obey said, “like deficits in jobs and opportunities and care.”  With that prologue, he opened the morning round of testimony.

18 March 2010
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates honored women in the military during a Pentagon ceremony March 18. Plus, Reserve Soldiers are reunited with their families. Pentagon

WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — In the midst of the great recession, a depressed job market is hitting veterans particularly hard. Unemployment numbers for all veterans continues to hover near 12 percent, but for service members who left the military in the past three years unemployment is 18 percent, nearly twice the national average.

“The way we treat our veterans when they return home is an indication of our national character,” said J. David Cox, AFGE national secretary-treasurer, who was a registered nurse in the VA for over 20 years prior to being elected to the union’s executive leadership. “These brave men and women volunteered, served valiantly, and have to come home to stand in the unemployment line. There is something very wrong with that.”

The high unemployment rate of returning service members has not escaped the attention of the White House. On Nov. 9, President Obama issued an executive order aimed at enhancing the recruitment and promotion of employment opportunities for veterans. The order established a multi-agency “Council on Veterans Employment” and is supposed to develop a strategic plan on how to recruit and employ veterans for federal civilian service. According to the union, however, any plan developed by the Council should address the systemic risk to federal civilian employment of veterans posed by the expanded use of for-profit contractors. Ironically, the VA – the agency that strives to be the model employer of veterans — has contracted out more jobs held by veterans than most other agencies. Read More »

National Poll on Infant Feeding Shows Mothers Need Support and Want Choice and Education

RED BANK, NJ – (December 1, 2009) A new national survey reveals the majority of mothers in the United States know breastfeeding is ideal for their babies and themselves but at the same time want the right to decide what works best for them and their families. The nationally representative survey, conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research (GQRR) in partnership with Public Opinion Strategies, sampled opinions from 876 mothers of children aged 12 months and younger throughout the country.

“The findings speak volumes,” says Elizabeth Battaglino Cahill, a registered nurse and executive director of HealthyWomen. “It’s clear mothers recognize breastfeeding as the gold standard; however, they also were clear that they want a choice when it comes to feeding their infants.”

The survey found that most mothers (83%) made their infant feeding decision prior to going to the hospital to give birth. The vast majority (82%) breastfed at some point during the first year; however, over half of the moms changed their baby’s diet during the first year. Read More »

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — In his first address before Congress, the newly elected leader of The American Legion has called upon lawmakers to “compassionately address” the needs of women veterans.

National Commander Clarence E. Hill, testifying before a joint session of the U.S. House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees, urged lawmakers to acknowledge that service women deployed to today’s theaters of war are, in fact, serving in combat zones.

“The demographic of the American veteran is changing,” Hill said. “We now have a much more diverse veterans’ population than in past generations. This diversity includes a growing and significant number of women veterans who sacrifice no less than their male counterparts. In this war without a front there are no safe areas. As such, women who historically were not severely wounded in previous conflicts are returning home with limbs missing, terribly burned, or blinded.”

Hill, who began his one-year term as head of the nation’s largest veterans service organization just two weeks, added that closer daily contact between male and female service members has “unfortunately led to military sexual trauma issues which must be addressed compassionately.”

He also noted that the change in the military’s makeup will require the meeting of new fiscal and logistical challenges in the service of those coming home. “Timely access to quality health care, the new G.I. Bill, and other veterans’ benefit programs must adjust and adapt to the needs of this ‘newest generation’ of wartime veterans. Hundreds of thousands of OIF (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom) veterans are now using their VA health care benefits, increasing the workload of a health care system that was overburdened before the war began,” Hill said. ” It is a sacred and time honored obligation of The American Legion to make sure those veterans have the services they need and timely access to the care they have earned and deserve.”

The Legion commander’s testimony was presented to members of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, chaired by Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., and the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, chaired by Senator Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, this morning. The forty page Legion presentation contained proposals for the Department of Veterans Affairs Fiscal Year 2011 budget and applauded Filner for his proposal to require Medicare to reimburse VA for the treatment of eligible veterans’ injuries, illnesses and conditions. The Legion also urged Congress to take measures to increase access to veterans health care, especially in rural areas, to redouble efforts to address the issues of an aging veteran population as well as veterans suffering the effects of Gulf War illness, traumatic brain injury, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and exposure to toxic substances such as Agent Orange.

The enormous backlog of unprocessed and partially processed veterans’ claims was also noted in the Legion presentation with potential solutions advanced. Suggestions were also made to improve and make more equitable the terms of the newly enacted Post 9/11 GI Bill that is now providing educational benefits to new military veterans.

Testimony is presented annually to lawmakers by The American Legion shortly after Congress reconvenes for its fall session.

With a current membership of 2.5-million wartime veterans, The American Legion was founded in 1919 on the four pillars of a strong national security, veterans affairs, Americanism, and youth programs. Legionnaires work for the betterment of their communities through more than 14,000 posts across the nation.

WASHINGTON, July 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — www.GraceAfterFire.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the needs of women veterans of all eras and military branches. Today they launch their online social network — built by women veterans for women veterans. This network is designed to allow women vets to join hands in order to bring a voice to the many who have been silenced due to military sexual trauma, the invisible wounds of post traumatic stress, and the pain of depression and addiction.

“Many of our nation’s women veterans feel isolated and not acknowledged as true veterans. Grace is a distinctive online community where women veterans will have the opportunity to share laughter, tears, and strength with other vets who know what they have been through,” said Stephanie Moles, founder of Grace After Fire. Read More »