In This Issue:
NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE SERVICE
1. New GI Bill gets Navy IT Help
2. Hand Salute now Law
3. Get Out and Vote
NATIONAL SECURITY & FOREIGN AFFAIRS
1. WWII MIA Identified
2. Reserve Component Mobilization
NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE SERVICE
1. New GI Bill gets Navy IT Help: The VA has asked the Department of
Navy to help in the development of an updated system to process
educational benefits under the new "Post 9/11 Veterans Educational
Assistance Act (PL 110-252). According to VA Secretary James Peake, the
Navy's Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command will build a system to
process educational benefits for veterans, as outlined in the new law.
Benefits under the new system go into effect Aug. 1, 2009. VBA
currently processes educational claims for 500,000 veterans. VFW
believes that VA may have to temporarily double the number of claims
processors to manage the manual workload, in addition to overseeing the
benefits for veterans attending school under older versions of the GI
bill until the new electronic system is in place. In a recent GI Bill
implementation oversight hearing, the VFW insisted that GI Bill benefits
be managed and delivered in a proper, accurate and timely manner.
2. Hand Salute now Law: Veterans and servicemembers not in uniform can
now render the hand salute during the playing of the national anthem.
The VFW-supported legislation builds upon a provision in the FY 2008
defense bill. Last year's change authorized veterans to render the
military-style hand salute during the raising, lowering or passing of
the flag, but it did not address salutes during the national anthem.
The new provision was passed as a part of the FY 2009 defense bill,
which became public Law 110-417 on Oct. 15, 2008. Read the VA press
release at
http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1609.
3. Get Out and Vote: Tuesday is Election Day. The VFW encourages
everyone to be educated on the issues and to exercise their
constitutional right to vote. All 435 seats in the U.S. House of
Representatives and a third of the Senate are up for election.
Regarding the presidential race, the October 2008 issue of VFW Magazine
covered both candidates and their positions on issues important to
veterans. That link is at
http://www.vfw.org/resources/pdf/partyplatforms.pdf.
NATIONAL SECURITY & FOREIGN AFFAIRS
1. WWII MIA Identified: The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office
announced that the remains of Army Air Forces 2nd Lt. Ray D. Packard, of
Atwood, CA, have been identified and will be returned to his family for
burial with full military honors. On Aug. 25, 1944, Packard was a pilot
in a flight of 22 P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft that left the allied
airfield at St. Lambert, France, to attack enemy airfields near
Laon-Chambry, France. En route to their target, the fighter group was
intercepted by more than 80 German fighters near Beauvais, France.
During the ensuing dogfight, 11 P-38s were shot down, including
Packard's, which crashed 15 miles south of Beauvais, near the town of
Angy. Five of the pilots escaped and evaded enemy capture, and two were
taken as prisoners of war. Of the four men who were missing in action,
three were later recovered and identified, but Packard remained
unaccounted-for. In 1951, a U.S. Army Graves Registration Command team
investigated the incident and interviewed a French citizen who said he
recovered human remains from a P-38 crash site in Angy. The team also
interviewed the mayor of Angy, who said that the remains had been buried
in a local cemetery, but had later been exhumed. He didn't know what
happened after the disinterment. The team went to the crash site, but
only found small pieces of aircraft wreckage. In 2006, a Joint POW/MIA
Accounting Command team traveled to Angy to investigate the incident.
The team interviewed the son of the French citizen interviewed in 1951.
He turned over to the team human remains and other non-biological
evidence recovered from the crash site. The team interviewed another
French citizen, an aircraft wreckage hunter, who turned over remains and
other evidence from an excavation that he conducted at the site. In
2006 and 2007, JPAC teams conducted two excavations and recovered more
human remains, aircraft wreckage, and material evidence including
Packard's identification tag.
2. Reserve Component Mobilization: The total number currently on active
duty in support of the partial mobilization for the Army National Guard
and Army Reserve is 95,327; Navy Reserve, 6,177; Air National Guard and
Air Force Reserve, 10,606; Marine Corps Reserve, 7,197; and the Coast
Guard Reserve, 758. This brings the total number of mobilized Guard and
Reserve personnel to 120,065, a decrease of 112 from last week. These
figures include the totals of voluntary and involuntary activated
Reserve Component members. Of this total, 93,561 personnel have been
involuntarily mobilized, while 26,504 are voluntarily serving on active
duty.
Topic: VFW WASHINGTON WEEKLY, Oct. 31, 2008 (Read 1266 times)
