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VFW Applauds 5 of 6 Commission Recommendations; Total Change to Disability System Won't Work

Posted at 05:15 PM on Friday, July 27, 2007 by LA VFW

WASHINGTON, July 26, 2007-- America's oldest and largest organization of combat veterans is applauding most of the recommendations released yesterday by the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors.

The nine-member commission, co-chaired by former Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) and former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala, was created in March to examine the whole continuum of care and programs for wounded servicemembers, as well as what is needed to assure their successful return to military duty or civilian life.

Gary Kurpius, who leads the 1.7 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., gave high marks to the commission's call for increased support for family members of the wounded.

Also lauded were information technology improvements, the need to keep Walter Reed Army Medical Center fully staffed until its scheduled closure in 2011, and the recommendations for the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to rapidly improve the awareness, diagnosis and treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder, and the treatment of the signature wound of this war: traumatic brain injuries.

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