Veterans News Bureau

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) – A 26-year-old former soldier pleaded not guilty in federal court in Huntsville to wire fraud, making false statements that led to a government contract and wearing war medals he didn’t earn.

Skyler Tarquin Smith did not speak at his arraignment Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Harwell Davis.

Davis was arrested last week outside an American Legion hall.

When visiting with members that organization, Smith wore two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, a Combat Infantry Badge, a Senior Parachutist Badge and an Air Assault Badge.

Smith was also indicted on charges of wire fraud, involving a ring he said was worth nearly $350,000 but which the buyer had appraised at $13.

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WASHINGTON, March 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The American Legion characterized VA’s Center for Veterans Enterprise (CVE) as “critically ineffective, understaffed, underfunded and marginalized” in March 11 testimony before the House Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity.

Created to help veterans start their own businesses and bid successfully on federal contracts, CVE – according to The American Legion’s National Small Business Task Force – lacks the ability to provide comprehensive technical assistance, takes too long to register clients (one month to one year), and does not offer help to veterans with part-time businesses.

“CVE only operates one office in Washington, D.C., and does not cover the needs of all the veteran-owned small businesses around the country,” said small-business expert Joseph Sharpe in his prepared remarks to the subcommittee. He said that CVE’s Vetbiz.gov Web site “is not easily navigated” and needs to become more user-friendly.

Sharpe, director of The American Legion’s Economic Division in Washington, told the subcommittee that businesses with fewer than 20 employees account for 90 percent of all U.S. firms. He said small businesses generated nearly $1 trillion of income for 2006 and employed 58.6 million workers.

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WASHINGTON—Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Elizabeth Dole welcomed 250 veterans to the World War II memorial Thursday to honor their service and introduce a TV miniseries on the battles of the Pacific.

HBO and a nonprofit group brought the veterans to Washington to mark the premiere of a 10-part series called “The Pacific.” It begins Sunday and focuses on the lives of U.S. Marines fighting the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The project follows the “Band of Brothers” series in 2001, which focused on the war in Europe.

“We did it because all of you are the greatest stories ever told,” Spielberg told the veterans. Such movies and TV series are critical, he said, because “with each passing generation, more and more people are forgetting about World War II.”

Hanks said ordinary Americans hate going to war, but they made the difference in World War II.

“You defined peace with these four words: The Americans are here,” he told the veterans.

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When the Missouri Returning Heroes’ Education Act was signed into law, it was intended to offer veterans low tuition at state universities. Now, Missouri Students Association and Mizzou Student Veterans Association are teaming up in opposition to what they view as a loophole in the bill that saddles veterans with an undue financial burden.

The bill, in effect since August 2008, offers combat veterans who held Missouri residency when entering the military a reduced rate of tuition at all public universities.

“All public institutions of higher education that receive any state funds appropriated by the general assembly shall limit the amount of tuition such institutions charge to combat veterans to $50 per credit hour,” the bill states.

MSA Senate Speaker Evan Wood said the bill, as it stands, does not allow veterans to take classes for $50 per credit hour unless there are no financial aid funds available to cover tuition.

“They take your financial aid package, and they use that money and they charge you the regular rate for classes paid for with financial aid money,” Wood said. “Only when there are any classes left unpaid do they start switching to a rate of $50 per credit hour.”

A clause in the bill states the tuition limitation is to be provided only after all other federal state aid the veteran receives has been applied, and no veteran is to receive more than the cost of attendance between both the tuition limitation and financial aid.

As a result of this clause, the financial aid veterans receive ends up going toward paying for classes at full tuition, MSVA Internal Vice President Nick Kundert said. With their financial aid dedicated primarily to tuition, student veterans often end up paying for other fees out of their own pockets.

“The veteran is still forced to pay for all of the fees,” Kundert said. “This is not a small chunk of change to a veteran that is living completely on his or her own.”

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Washington, D.C., March 11, 2010 — “Any attempt to link rising military personnel costs with shrinking military readiness is total nonsense,” said Thomas J. Tradewell Sr., who leads the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S., the largest and oldest major combat veterans’ organization.

“If the Defense Department needs a larger budget for personnel programs, then let the VFW carry that message to Congress. Just don’t pin the budget blame on servicemembers and military retirees.”

Tradewell’s ire is targeted at the new DOD undersecretary of personnel and readiness, Clifford L. Stanley, who in testimony yesterday before the personnel subcommittee of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said “Rising personnel costs could dramatically affect the readiness of the department.”

His predecessor, Dr. David Chu, took the same position in a January 2005 Wall Street Journal article, by saying “The amounts have gotten to the point where they are hurtful. They are taking away from the nation’s ability to defend itself.”

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WASHINGTON – President Obama today announced the charities that will receive a portion of the $1.4 million award that comes with the Nobel peace prize.

“These organizations do extraordinary work in the United States and abroad helping students, veterans and countless others in need,” said President Obama. “I’m proud to support their work.”

List of Charities

$250,000 to Fisher House

Fisher House is a national non-profit organization that provides housing for families of patients receiving medical care at major military and VA medical centers.

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WASHINGTON (March 11, 2010) – The Department of Veterans Affairs is allocating $39 million to fund about 2,200 new transitional housing beds through grants to local providers.

“VA is committed to ending the cycle of homelessness among Veterans,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “We will use every tool at our disposal – health care, education, jobs, safe housing – to ensure our Veterans are restored to lives with dignity, purpose and safety.”

The $39 million in funding is broken into two categories. About $24 million in grants are available to renovate or rehabilitate space to create about 1,000 transitional housing beds. The grants put a priority upon housing for homeless women and housing on tribal lands.

A second group of grants, valued at about $15 million, is expected to fund about 1,200 new beds for homeless providers who already have suitable transitional housing. The grants will provide per diems based upon the number of homeless Veterans being served in transitional housing.

VA is the largest federal provider of direct assistance to the homeless, with 14,000 transitional beds in operation or development. About 107,000 Veterans are homeless on a typical night. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki has committed the department to ending homelessness among Veterans within five years.

For more information, visit VA’s Web page for the grant and per diem program at www.va.gov/homeless or contact VA’s program office at 1-877-332-0334, or e-mail VA at homelessvets@va.gov.

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Washington, DC – Today, House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Chairman Bob Filner (D-CA) conducted a hearing to better understand the challenges that face the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in the future and what is needed to transform the agency into a 21st century organization. VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki offered his assessment of how to improve the structure and implement necessary changes to provide veterans the best care and benefits in the most effective and efficient way possible.

“We are not looking for a piecemeal approach to structuring VA to best address the needs of America’s veterans,” said Chairman Filner. “Rather, we want to hear about your vision and your assessment of what tools you need, including a proposal that would amend Title 38 to add an additional Assistant Secretary and eight Deputy Assistant Secretaries. Our hope is to come out of this with a plan we can all get behind that meets the needs of the Department and our veterans.”

Current law provides for “not more than seven Assistant Secretaries” and limits the number of Deputy Assistant Secretaries to a number “not exceeding 19, as the Secretary may determine.” As part of its restructuring efforts, the VA is seeking legislation that would authorize an additional Assistant Secretary and eight Deputy Assistant Secretaries. This section was last amended in 2002, when one Assistant Secretary, one Deputy Assistant Secretary, and an additional Assistant Secretary function covering “[o]perations, preparedness, security, and law enforcement.”

Secretary Shinseki discussed his proposal to add an additional Assistant Secretary and increase the number of Deputy Assistant Secretaries by 40 percent. He testified that adding positions “is not about creating a new layer of bureaucracy – it is about streamlining and aligning our organization in ways that will better align our priorities with the most responsible use of funds entrusted to the Department.”

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