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Internal Department of Veterans Affairs data provided by whistleblowers reveals the agency is only filling about half of its capacity to make medical appointments, even as veterans continue to wait an average of at least 30 days before a medical appointment can be scheduled. The VA documents show that between July and September of 2017, the agency only used 51.44 percent of the appointments available across its healthcare system. VA documents also show there are currently 184,520 veterans across the nation waiting longer than 30 days for an appointment and more than 45,000 new veteran patients waiting more than 90...

The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release September 13, 2017 President Donald J. Trump Proclaims September 15, 2017, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day NATIONAL POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY, 2017 BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION Americans are blessed with many freedoms thanks to the hard-earned battle victories and tremendous sacrifices of our military men and women. The members of our Armed Forces shine a light of freedom throughout the world, and as we celebrate our returning heroes, we also remember our heroes who never returned home. On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, our...

Without question, we here at Conservative Tribune have nothing but the utmost respect and admiration for those now-grizzled, old men who, more than 70 years ago, put their lives on the line in the first flush of youth to defend freedom and liberty in World War II. Our admiration and respect for one particular veteran of that war only grew after witnessing how, all these decades later, the man could still shoot a rifle with professionally trained precision, according to Veterans Today. In 2009, then-84-year-old Ted Gundy, a veteran of the 1944 Battle of the Bulge who had served in...

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WEAR) — A free program is helping veterans create their own jobs. This week the University of West Florida (UWF) is hosting their Veteran Entrepreneurship Program. The UWF Military and Veterans Resource Center is one of six networking partners around the state similar to this one. Veterans interested in starting their own business can get help from the university through workshops and even online classes. Next spring the Military and Veterans Resource Center will be having intensive classes at UWF to teach those interested in having a good business concept and more. If you're worried that you don't...

As we've previously noted, there are more than 16,000 nonprofits in the United States with the word "veteran" in its title. One would think with so many, there wouldn't be so many needy veterans, especially in states where politicians have repeatedly assured the public there aren't any homeless vets on the street. Again, there is a constant when it comes to any nonprofit, but especially those that claim to be helping veterans: keep the mission vague and goal literally unattainable. That way there is no gauge for real success that ever has to be achieved.

Rather than fixing the issue, the hospital retaliated against Klein: “On May 28, 2016, after Klein’s superiors found out he’d blown the whistle on what he saw as serious problems, the VA closed his clinic and tried to fire him. When the agency learned Klein could not be fired because he was a whistleblower, his superiors forced him to sit in a room for a year, with no patients and no duties, all the while paying him his full salary of $250,000 a year,” a Fox New article from June stated.

SIERRA VISTA — It took a community effort to relocate the remains of soldiers — both union and confederate — to the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Sierra Vista. Starting in November 2006, a three-year effort together with the contributions of local civic groups and contractors helped create the “Historic Soldiers Section,” within the local state-run military cemetery. At the entrance to the one-acre, fenced section within the cemetery, are two small memorial tablets. To the north, a stone celebrating the service of union soldiers in the Grand Army of the Republic. To the south, a similarly-sized stone recognizing...

A flyer recently appeared at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs (UCCS) declaring that “in order to protect our academic institutions we must ban veterans from four-year universities.”The flyer is part of a new “Social Justice Collective Weekly” newsletter, which is not affiliated with the school, and is aimed at “promoting justice in our society.” The first issue of the newsletter includes an article titled “Should Veterans Be Banned From UCCS and Other Universities?” "Extremist right-wing groups must be suppressed on campus. This would include their followers: veterans." “A four-year, traditional university is supposed to be a place of learning, of...

On Monday, May 8, Tony Monetti, a Republican from Warrensburg, will be announcing his candidacy for the U.S. Senate on the steps of the historic Truman Courthouse in Independence at 7 p.m. He will do the same earlier in the day in St. Louis and in Jefferson City. Monetti’s road to Independence is a testament to the living reality of the American dream and the underrated accessibility of the Republican Party. Raffaele Antonio “Tony” Monetti was born in Brooklyn to Italian immigrant parents 51 years ago. His father was an electrician and his mother a stay-at-home mom. From as early as he could...

A newsletter posted on the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) campus is starting to make the rounds on social media and it states veterans should be banned from four-year universities. Several viewers asked 11 News to look into the origin of the newsletter. The letter states military veterans should be banned from classes and compares the military culture to white supremacist groups. The newsletter is titled "Social Justice Collective Weekly" and says it is the first issue. A spokesperson for UCCS said the newsletter has nothing to do with the school and does not represent the institution's views. However,...

President Trump Gives Remarks to the National Convention of the American Legion - White House original copy - YouTube- full event

Video here

Next year’s midterm elections already have Democrats dreaming of winning a lot more than the two-dozen seats they need to re-take the House majority. (snip) And as Democrats talk about an electoral “battlefield,” they are placing new emphasis on recruiting candidates who actually have served on a real one: veterans.

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — Military veterans are getting unlimited access to college assistance under legislation President Donald Trump has signed into law. The Forever GI Act removed a 15-year limit on using the benefits, effective immediately. The measure increases financial assistance for National Guard and Reserve members, building on a 2008 law that guaranteed veterans a full-ride scholarship to any in-state, public university, or a similar cash amount to attend private colleges. Purple Heart recipients forced to leave the service due to injury are eligible for benefits, as are dependents of service members who are killed in the line of...

Rare Footage of Civil War Veterans Doing the Rebel Yell In this exclusive clip from the 1930s, Confederate veterans step up to the mic and let out their version of the fearsome rallying cry.

.... Congressional Appropriations Act, FY 1901, signed 6 June 1900 Congress passed an act of appropriations for $2,500 that enabled the “Secretary of War to have reburied in some suitable spot in the national cemetery at Arlington, Virginia, and to place proper headstones at their graves, the bodies of about 128 Confederate soldiers now buried in the National Soldiers Home near Washington, D.C., and the bodies of about 136 Confederate soldiers now buried in the national cemetery at Arlington, Virginia.” Remarks: More important than the amount (worth substantially more in 1900 than in 2000) is the move to support reconciliation...

Vietnam vet Ed Hill earned the Bronze Star but never received it. Now after all this time, Hill received the medal he so rightly deserved.

President Trump on Saturday signed a bill that will pump funds into the Veterans choice program to keep it up and running, while Washington continues to fight over how best to give veterans the care they earned — but which the government has sometimes failed to deliver. Approved in the wake of the wait-list scandal that saw hundreds of veterans die while stuck on secret wait lists, the choice program allows those caught in backlogs to seek care at from a private clinic or doctor and bill the costs back to the Veterans Affairs Department.....

An east Atlanta gym is receiving backlash after the owner posted a sign on the window prohibiting police officers and military members from obtaining a membership. The sign gained attention when a former service member saw it on the window of EAV Barbell Club with profanity, and reported it to media outlets. The owner of the gym, Jim Chambers, claims the policy was put in place because the minority population he serves are uncomfortable in the presence of law enforcement. Chambers claims this policy has been in place since the gym opened. The self-proclaimed political activist told media outlets he...

Editor’s note: This is the 11th article in The Inter-Mountain’s Unsung Heroes series, which will feature veterans in our area and share first-hand accounts of their military service. The series will publish each Monday through Veterans Day. To suggest an Unsung Hero, call 304-636-2121, ext. 120. ELKINS — As a mechanic who served during the Cold War, a local veteran has fond memories of the time he spent in the U.S. Army. John Vallelonga, who has lived in Elkins since the early 1970s, said the Army gave him the experience he needed to move ahead in life. After graduating from...