Weekly newsletter of the Fleet Reserve Association
February 23 2018
In this issue:
Judge Rules Burn Pitt Causes Lung Disease
New Retention DoD Policy
Announced
Committee Chairman Wants
Pentagon Audit Results
Veterans Cards Available
Again
Happy Birthday U.S. Coast
Guard Reserve
Judge Rules
Burn Pitt Smoke Causes Lung Disorder
A judge in the U.S. Department of Labor's Office for Workers' Compensation
Programs ruled vapors from open-air burn pits are connected to lung
disease. The ruling could allow Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
benefits for the tens of thousands of service members who signed onto the VA's
Burn Pit Registry over the course of the conflicts in the Middle East. These
burn pits—where trash, abandoned hardware, and other waste was burned—occurred
throughout U.S. military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those downwind from the
pits believe they were exposed to chemicals released during the burning of
toxic items.
In October 2016, a group of 700
veterans and family members wrote an open letter to then-President Barack Obama
to record their grievances.
"We write because these
veterans are seriously ill, dying or have passed away, and more must be
done," the letter read. "Many of us went to war able to run
marathons, but now our health has deteriorated so much that we cannot hold down
steady jobs. ... We are misdiagnosed. We are not getting the medical care we
urgently need. We need you to act in this, your final year in office."
In January, former Vice President
Joe Biden voiced the belief that his son's fatal brain cancer may have been
caused by exposure to burn pits while serving in Iraq and Kosovo.
New
Retention Policy Announced at DoD
The Department of Defense (DoD) recently announced policy changes pertaining to
retention of non-deployable active duty personnel. The new policy, based
on recommendations of the Military Personnel Working Group, requires military
members who have been non-deployable for 12 continuous months be processed for
separation through administrative procedures or referred into the Disability
Evaluation System (DES). The policy objective is to reduce the number of
non-deployable active duty personnel, thereby improve military readiness. DoD
reported there are 286,000 service members who are medically non-deployable at
any one time. Each of the services has until October 1, 2018, to start implementing
the policy.
Senate
Committee Chairman Wants Pentagon Audit Results
The long awaited audit of the Department of Defense (DoD) has started and the
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi (Wyo.) dispatched a letter to
Defense Secretary (SecDef) Jim Mattis demanding details from the Pentagon about
how exactly it plans to use results from its first-ever audit when completed.
The Chairman requested a line-by-line breakdown, as well as a timeline, of how
the Pentagon plans to spend its $900 million to complete and comply with the
audit. The budget chairman warned that if the Pentagon cannot earn taxpayers'
trust, "it will be incredibly difficult" to meet its request for a 3
to 5 percent growth in defense spending next year. Congress has already agreed and
enacted the "Bipartisan Budget Act" (H.R.1892-P.L.-115-123) that
permits Defense spending increases well above the caps enacted in 2011 for
FY2018 and FY2019.
Senator Enzi requested details
about of how the Pentagon would achieve a "clean" audit despite the
"many more painful findings" that are likely to be uncovered. The
Chairman's letter stated, "It is important for Congress to better
understand how DoD is translating audit findings into changes in its business
practices..."
The House Armed Services Committee
also recently held an oversight hearing to ascertain the progress and status of
the ongoing audit. Getting DoD to conduct an audit has been a challenge.
Congress passed legislation in 1990 for all federal government agencies to
conduct an audit. In 2010 the NDAA included a mandate for the Pentagon to
complete an audit by September 2017.
Since 1997, the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) has been required to audit the federal government's
consolidated financial statements, but the agency has repeatedly said Pentagon
reviews are not based on accurate data. In 2010, it was determined that the
nearly $6 billion spent to improve the agency's financial information was
unsuccessful. The GAO could not predict when the DoD would be able to provide these
financial statements.
Veteran
Cards Now Available Again
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) recently started accepting applications
again for the VA issued Veterans Identification Card (VIC). The ID card, authorized by Congress in 2015, is free
of charge and will provide proof of military service in lieu of a having to
carry a DD-214. The process originally commenced
this past November but had to be stopped due to the overwhelming number of
applications that caused the website to crash. The VA halted the application
process in order to rectify the issues on the website. The system is available
once again, and veterans who wish to apply for a VIC can click
here and sign in or create an account.
Veterans who apply for a card
should receive it within 60 days. Veterans can check the status of their cards
by clicking
here.
Happy
Birthday U.S. Coast Guard Reserve
This week (February 19) the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve celebrated its 77th
birthday. The Coast Guard Reserve began with the passage of the Coast Guard
Reserve and Auxiliary Act of February 19, 1941. Coast Guard reservist normally
train two days a month and may perform up to 15 days of Active Duty for
training a year. The Coast Guard Reserve has about 8,000 men and women in
service, most of them directly integrated with regular Coast Guard units. The
Reserve has been a flexible, responsive and cost-effective workforce that has
maintained its primary purpose of providing surge capacity for Coast Guard
mission.
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