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Veterans! Here’s your Top 10 News stories of the day compiled from the latest sources

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1.    Virtual training expands as military evolves. As the Pentagon scales back amid looming budget cuts, it envisions a smaller, more flexible and technologically advanced force. Some trainers say improved virtual systems, better games and larger simulations at home stations, as opposed to training centers, will play a greater role in preparing soldiers for future battles.
2.    Boise man admits taking govt money from dead mom’s bank account. Northwest Cable News Paul Richard McLeod, 57, pleaded guilty today in US District Court in Boise. Federal prosecutors say from July 2008 through July 2010, the US Department of Veterans Affairs paid monthly dependent compensation payments to McLeod’s mother, the legal and …
3.    Let’s find homes for needy Montana veterans. Billings Gazette One indication that the Montana population of homeless veterans has unmet needs is the fact that all services for them have quickly filled despite significant expansions. The US Department of Veterans Affairs in Montana is starting the third year of a …
4.    Federal Health Care IT Spending Set To Grow. Washington Post ”With money tight, congressional appropriators rarely insist that agencies spend money.” However, the “omnibus spending bill passed Dec. 17 approved $100 million for a joint Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs effort to develop digital medical records – even though they missed deadlines for requesting the money.” Petty adds, “The Defense Department and VA are leading efforts to develop electronic health records, give providers and patients access to records through wireless and mobile devices and allow patients to participate in their own care through telemedicine, bringing specialists to rural areas and the battlefield.”
5.    People With PTSD “Have To Keep Fighting. Frederick (MD) News-Post Veteran Paul Raines, “of Frederick, says he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder related to what he witnessed while serving a tour in Iraq.” Raines “has received PTSD treatment at the VA Medical Center in Martinsburg, W.Va., which offers both residential and outpatient services. Sutton Ulman, the acting program manager for the residential PTSD program at Martinsburg,” said that through his program, vets “can find their warmth again and hopefully leave behind some things they don’t need to be carrying with them anymore.”
6.    PTSD? Try Meditation And Yoga. San Diego Union-Tribune “Nationally,” Veterans Affairs is “embracing alternative therapies,” including meditation and yoga, “to help veterans deal with combat stress and…physical pain.” However, a “May VA research conference concluded that evidence of the benefit of these therapies on post-traumatic stress disorder – possibly the signature wound of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars – is still thin. Now VA researchers in San Diego, which has the largest population of post-9/11 military veterans in the nation, have received funding to conduct additional studies.”
7.    Women At War: Rising Role In Military Outpaces Medical Care. Louisville Courier-Journal ”While military and Veterans Affairs officials said they’re making steady progress, government and American Legion reports have raised concerns about a lack of women’s health equipment in field hospitals, a lack of privacy in military and VA medical centers, and the need for more expertise in women’s care among” healthcare providers. The Courier-Journal added, “Recent efforts in the military and VA include boosting privacy and training in women’s care, and working to change the male-dominated culture.” And in June, VA “launched an effort to contact every female veteran to talk about VA care.”
8.    Veterans’ Wait For Benefits Is Lengthy. Dayton (OH) Daily News Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), says that because of a “huge” claims backlog at Veterans Affairs, 1.5 million US veterans are waiting for VA benefits. Davis “added the VA claims adjudicators ‘are well-trained people, but they’re overwhelmed.’” The Daily News adds, “The US House Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (part of the appropriations committee) is addressing the issue.”
9.    Free Concert To Be Held In Poplar Bluff For Veterans. Southeast Missourian Poplar Bluff, Missouri, has “once again been chosen by the Department of Veterans Affairs as one of only 17 locations across the country to host a free concert for veterans. Country music singer Lee Greenwood, best known for his single ‘God Bless the USA,’ will perform Feb. 17 at the Black River Coliseum.” In a news release, VA said the “concert is a fully sponsored event by Help Hospitalized Veterans and contributors in the community.”
10. For Former Medic, Iraq Service A Slideshow Of Hurt, Doubts. Omaha World-Herald