261,958 research outputs found
A Home for Volunteers: Togus and the National Soldiers’ Homes
Full text linkThe current U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs traces its origins to the Civil War. Before the Civil War, there had been some attempts to provide services for veterans but these benefits were solely for career military veterans and not volunteers. Since Civil War veterans were mostly volunteers, this became a problem. The services provided before this had been mostly in the form of homes like the U.S. Naval Asylum in Philadelphia where veterans could receive long-term care. Many felt that homes were the best way to care for soldiers and so, in March of 1865, legislation passed to create a national asylum for disabled volunteers. On November 10, 1866, the first branch of three national homes was established. At first, the branches were open to all Union soldiers who could prove a connection between their service and their injury. They then later welcomed veterans of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War as long as they didn’t fight against the Union in the Civil War. Confederate veterans were never allowed. Each home had a barracks, dining halls, hospital, cemetery, and recreational facilities
Invisible Wounds: Psychological and Neurological Injuries Confront a New Generation of Veterans
Get PDFAs early as 1919, doctors began to track a psychological condition among combat veterans of World War I known as "shell shock." Veterans were suffering from symptoms such as fatigue and anxiety, but science could offer little in the way of effective treatment. Although there remains much more to learn, our understanding of war's invisible wounds has dramatically improved. Thanks to modern screening and treatment, we have an unprecedented opportunity to respond immediately and effectively to the veterans' mental health crisis. Among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, rates of psychological and neurological injuries are high and rising. According to a landmark 2008 RAND study, nearly 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans screen positive for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or depression. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are also facing neurological damage,. Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, has become the signature wound of the Iraq War. The Department of Defense is tracking about 5,500 troops with TBIs, but many veterans are not being diagnosed. No one comes home from war unchanged, but with early screening and adequate access to counseling, the psychological and neurological effects of combat are treatable. In the military and in the veterans' community, however, those suffering from the invisible wounds of war are still falling through the cracks. We must take action now to protect this generation of combat veterans from the struggles faced by those returning from the Vietnam War
Veterans’ Benefits: Pension Benefit Programs
Get PDF[Excerpt] The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) administers pension programs for certain low-income veterans and their surviving spouses and dependent children. This report discusses the Improved Disability Pension, which makes payments to certain low-income veterans, and the Improved Death Pension, which makes payments to certain low-income surviving spouses and dependent children of deceased veterans. To qualify for either program, individuals must have become eligible for payments on or after January 1, 1979. Both pension programs were created by P.L. 95-588, the Veterans and Survivors Pension Improvement Act of 1978.
In addition, this report discusses a special pension program for Medal of Honor recipients.
This report does not discuss several other pension programs that are administered by the VA, such as the Old Law Disability Pension and the Section 306 Disability Pension, which make payments to low-income veterans, and the Old Law Death Pension and the Section 306 Death Pension, which make payments to low-income surviving spouses and dependent children of veterans; these programs apply only to veterans and their survivors who became entitled to such benefits before 1979.
This report also does not discuss pension programs for veterans of specific periods of war before World War I, such as the Civil War, the Indian Wars, and the Spanish-American War.
Finally, this report does not address the military retirement system. For information on that system, see CRS Report RL34751, Military Retirement: Background and Recent Developments, by Kristy N. Kamarck
Denying Credit: The Failure to Transition Troops to Civilian Employment
Get PDFSince September 11, 2001, more than 2.5 million veterans have served in Iraq, Afghanistan, or both ("Gulf War II veterans"). It is widely recognized that securing meaningful employment is one of the most important factors determining the success of each veteran's return to civilian life, influencing not only household income but also the physical and psychological health of these veterans and their families. Promoting veteran employment should thus be a top national priority, a measure o the country's support and respect for military service. And promoting veteran employment should be easy, because many veterans separate from service with significant military training and experience relevant to jobs in the civilian labor market. Yet, despite their marketable skills, Gulf War II veterans are unemployed at rates higher than those of the labor force overall.One substantial obstacle to the employment of veterans is the failure of federal, state, and local licensing authorities to credit military training and experience in granting occupational and professional licenses. This failure can compel veterans to spend months or years in classes and apprenticeship programs waiting for licenses and certifications for which their military training and experience should already have qualified them. In addition to military-civilian collaboration failures within the current licensing regime, certain Gulf War II veterans also suffer employment difficulty beyond licensing, because the occupations related to the licenses for which they may qualify either pay low wages or face anemic growth over the next decade. These veterans could benefit from targeted efforts at further training or education. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) knows where most Gulf War II veterans reside, and the U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) knows the labor market conditions in those areas with high concentrations of veterans. But, at a national level, information regarding the military training and experience (referred to as Military Occupational Specialty, or "MOS") of Gulf War II veterans is held only by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), which has refused to make it public. And although the DoD has created its own Military Credentialing and Licensing Task Force, it has thus far focused on only a limited number of MOSes instead of providing complete data to aid lawmakers responsible for reintegrating the millions of service members who were once under the charge of the DoD. This lack of data frustrates policymakers' efforts to determine which licensing regimes might be reformed so as to maximize opportunities for veterans to secure licenses, and to tailor training and education programs for those veterans whose military skill sets are applicable only to low-wage or low-growth jobs. To overcome the DoD's failure to disclose national MOS data, this report looked to an alternative source -- a random sample of the MOS data voluntarily provided to the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs by Gulf War II veterans. Using this sample, the Connecticut Veterans Legal Center (CVLC) has produced the first study of its kind: one in which MOS data can be compared to local labor market conditions and state licensing requirements. This report thus identifies those licenses that align with the military training and experience of the largest number of Gulf War II veterans in Connecticut, and then compares those to DoL estimates of current and future labor market conditions. The result is a mapping of licensing regimes policymakers should reform to credit military service and best promote veteran employment. Further, to the extent the Connecticut population of Gulf War II veterans is representative of the nation as a whole, and that local labor market conditions and licensing requirements are comparable to those elsewhere in the country, the conclusions of this report will have national implications. Conversely, if Connecticut's Gulf War II veterans are not representative, or labor market conditions and licensing requirements vary, this study evidences the need to undertake comparable investigations in other states, and for the DoD to cease withholding MOS data that could aid policymakers in better promoting veteran employment nationally
After Johnny Came Marching Home: The Political Economy of Veterans' Benefits in the Nineteenth Century
Get PDFThis paper explores new estimates of the number of veterans and the value of veterans' benefits -- both cash benefits and land grants -- from the Revolution to 1900. Benefits, it turns out, varied substantially from war to war. The veterans of the War of 1812, in particular, received a smaller amount of benefits than did the veterans of the other nineteenth century wars. A number of factors appear to account for the differences across wars. Some are familiar from studies of other government programs: the previous history of veterans' benefits, the wealth of the United States, the number of veterans relative to the population, and the lobbying efforts of lawyers and other agents employed by veterans. Some are less familiar. There were several occasions, for example, when public attitudes toward the war appeared to influence the amount of benefits. Perhaps the most important factor, however, was the state of the federal treasury. When the federal government ran a surplus, veterans were likely to receive additional benefits; when it ran a deficit, veterans' hopes for additional benefits went unfilled. Veterans' benefits were, to use the terms a bit freely, more like a luxury than a necessity.
Genetic damage in New Zealand Vietnam War veterans : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Genetics at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Get PDFAccompanying CD-ROM contains the complete SCE results for all participants
System requirement Microsoft ExcelFrom July 1965 until May 1971, New Zealand Defence Force Personnel fought in the Vietnam War. During this time the United States military forces sprayed more than 76,500,000 litres of phenoxylic herbicides over parts of Southern Vietnam and Laos. The most common herbicide sprayed was known as 'Agent Orange'. All of the Agent Orange sprayed during the Vietnam War was contaminated with 2,3,7,8- tetrachlorobenzo-para-dioxin (known simply as TCDD), a known human carcinogen. Since returning to New Zealand more than 30 years ago, New Zealand Vietnam War veterans have expressed concern about the numerous health problems experienced by both themselves and their children. New Zealand Vietnam War veterans attribute these health problems to exposure to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. This study aimed to ascertain whether or not New Zealand Vietnam War veterans have incurred genetic damage as a result of service in Vietnam. The Sister Chromatid Exchange assay (SCE) is a very sensitive and widely applied assay used to detect genetic damage induced by an environmental agent or clastogen. In the current study a group of New Zealand Vietnam War veterans and a control group were compared using an SCE analysis in order to determine if genetic damage had been sustained by the Vietnam War veterans. All participants were screened to reduce the possible influence of factors that could severely impact on findings and to eliminate any bias in the SCE results. The results from the SCE study show a highly significant difference between the mean of the experimental group and the mean of the control group (p < 0.001). This result indicates that New Zealand Vietnam War veterans have sustained genetic damage; this damage can be attributed to service in Vietnam (possibly as a result of exposure to Agent Orange). This result is strong and indicates that further scientific research on New Zealand Vietnam War veterans is required
Perception vs. Reality: WWII Veterans are More Than Willing to Share their Stories
Get PDFI created the Bristol Veterans History Project to record and preserve the stories from World War II and Korean War veterans in the local area.
The attached paper and corresponding PowerPoint presentation were created for a presentation with Professor Debbie Mulligan in Washington, DC
Miscarriage, stillbirth and congenital malformation in the offspring of UK veterans of the first Gulf war.
No full textOBJECTIVES: To assess whether the offspring of UK veterans of the first Gulf war are at increased risk of fetal death or congenital malformation. METHOD: This was a retrospective reproductive cohort study of UK Gulf war veterans and a demographically similar comparison group who were in service at the time but were not deployed to the Gulf. Reproductive history was collected by means of a validated postal questionnaire between 1998 and 2001. RESULTS: In all, 27 959 pregnancies reported by men and 861 pregnancies reported by women were conceived after the first Gulf war and before November 1997. The risk of reported miscarriage was higher among pregnancies fathered by Gulf war veterans than by non-Gulf war veterans (OR = 1.4, 95% CI: 1.3, 1.5). Stillbirth risk was similar in both groups. Male Gulf war veterans reported a higher proportion of offspring with any type of malformation than the comparison cohort (OR = 1.5, 95% CI: 1.3, 1.7). Examination by type of malformation revealed some evidence for increased risk of malformations of the genital system, urinary system (renal and urinary tract), and 'other' defects of the digestive system, musculo-skeletal system, and non-chromosomal (non-syndrome) anomalies. These associations were weakened when analyses were restricted to clinically confirmed conditions. There was little or no evidence of increased risk for other structural malformations, specific syndromes, and chromosomal anomalies. Among female veterans, no effect of Gulf war service was found on the risk of miscarriage. The numbers of stillbirths and malformations reported by women were too small to allow meaningful analyses. CONCLUSION: We found no evidence for a link between paternal deployment to the Gulf war and increased risk of stillbirth, chromosomal malformations, or congenital syndromes. Associations were found between fathers' service in the Gulf war and increased risk of miscarriage and less well-defined malformations, but these findings need to be interpreted with caution as such outcomes are susceptible to recall bias. The finding of a possible relationship with renal anomalies requires further investigation. There was no evidence of an association between risk of miscarriage and mothers' service in the gulf
“Home Again”: The Contrasting Experiences of Richard D. Dunphy and Lewis A. Horton
Full text linkUnion veterans returning home from the war in 1865 faced a myriad of experiences and reacted to the return to civilian life in a variety of ways. Richard D. Dunphy and Lewis A. Horton, both double-arm amputee veterans of the Navy, ably demonstrate the differences in experience and reaction to the war and life afterwards. [excerpt
Learning the Fighting Game: Black Americans and the First World War
Full text linkThe experience of African American veterans of the First World War is most often cast through the bloody lens of the Red Summer of 1919, when racial violence and lynchings reached record highs across the nation as black veterans returned from the global conflict to find Jim Crow justice firmly entrenched in a white supremacist nation. This narrative casts black veterans in a deeply ironic light, a lost generation even more cruelly mistreated than the larger mythological Lost Generation of the Great War. This narrative, however, badly abuses hindsight and clouds larger issues of black activism and organization during and immediately after the war. This study explorers early NAACP activism, the Garveyite movement, and the early foundations of the Civil Rights Movement
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