July 2009 Special Report - Retirees and Veterans 

Michael Scarlett, who in a Warrior Transistion Unit, said he had become forgetful “and was feeling stupid” when someone would remind him about what he had said he would do, and he also found himself pulling away from family members.

When Maj. Jeffrey Hall returned from his second deployment to Iraq, he was assigned as an observer/controller at the Joint Readiness Training Center, Fort Polk, La. “I was hoping to get some rest off the line.”

To ensure VA benefits, soldiers should start getting ready for civilian life before their military careers are over.

Although Staff Sgt. Levi Bellovics was trained as an artilleryman, his second tour in Iraq was spent “pretty much on patrols, like what a police officer does here.”

A soldier recalls his struggle in seeking treatment for post traumatic stress and how home life helped.

Details emerging on Obama’s concurrent receipt plan; COLA watch; AUSA on the Hill.

By the middle of 1995, the Department of Defense was trying to identify what constituted Gulf War Syndrome – the fatigue, pain and cognitive difficulties that thousands of soldiers were seeking treatment for. Col. Charles Engel, the director of the Defense Deployment Health Clinic Center, said, “It looked the same as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,” but the biggest difference from it was that those seeking treatment “all had been part of the same war.”

The hottest issue facing the military retiree community is a future increase in TRICARE fees and co-payments for those under 65, the president of the Association of the United States Army told members of the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Retiree Council April 19.

In its report to the chief of staff, the Army’s retiree council warned that recruiting and retention would be impacted if health care policy was determined by budgetary constraints alone, without considering the sacrifices asked of the current force.

The following is an edited statement made by Israel March 4 before the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity.

Retirees and veterans continue to impact lives of soldiers and familieswhile turning to DoD to keep their health care issues at the forefront.