VFW WASHINGTON WEEKLY, Oct. 24, 2008

In This Issue:

NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE SERVICE
1. COLA Announced for 2009

NATIONAL SECURITY & FOREIGN AFFAIRS
1. Reserve Component Mobilization

NATIONAL VETERANS SERVICE
1. Loss of Control Puts Vets Documents at Risk:

NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE SERVICE

1. COLA Announced for 2009: Late last week it was announced that the
cost-of-living adjustment for 2009 will be 5.8%. The COLA increases the
rates of VA disability compensation, dependency and indemnity (DIC),
military retiree pay, Social Security recipients and other federal
annuitants. It is the largest COLA increase since 1982. The COLA is
based on the change in the Consumer Price Index and is effective Dec. 1,
2008.

NATIONAL SECURITY & FOREIGN AFFAIRS

1. 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 94,777; Navy Reserve, 6,334; Air National Guard and
Air Force Reserve, 10,891; Marine Corps Reserve, 7,197; and the Coast
Guard Reserve, 754. This brings the total number of mobilized Guard and
Reserve personnel to 119,953, a decrease of 599 from last week. These
figures include the totals of voluntary and involuntary activated
Reserve Component members. Of this total, 93,152 personnel have been
involuntarily mobilized, while 26,801 are voluntarily serving on active
duty.

NATIONAL VETERAN SERVICE

1. Loss of Control Puts Vets Documents at Risk: VA's inspector general
initiated an investigation earlier this month after discovering more
than 10 veterans' documents in shredder room bins at VA regional offices
in Detroit, St. Louis, St. Petersburg, Fla., and Waco, Texas. VA
ordered an immediate freeze on further document shredding while its
officials tried to determine if the problem was more widespread. It
was. Yesterday, VA told VFW that nearly 490 documents had been
recovered from its 57 regional offices, with 53% of the total coming
from shredder bins in Columbia, S.C., St. Louis and Cleveland. VA is
still checking to see if some of those documents were duplicates already
present in claims files. "We have to believe that the VA will right
this wrong," said VFW Commander-in-Chief Glen Gardner. He said VA must
also establish internal controls to prevent such acts from happening in
the future. With almost 850,000 claims in the VA backlog, Gardner said
"The question that begs to asked and answered is how many veterans had
their disability compensation claims disappear down a paper shredder?"
VA Secretary James Peake called the discovery "unacceptable," and said
that anyone who violated VA policy on protecting documents would be held
accountable. Peake added that the documents, some of which were not
duplicated in government files, could have affected veterans'
eligibility for benefits. Anyone who files a claim with VA should
receive an acknowledgement within 30 days or so. Those who don't should
contact either the VA or their service officers for a status report.