ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS

Currently, as you might know, there are limited benefits for children of fathers who served in Vietnam, but many more for children of mothers who served in Vietnam.

Our Service Officer is working in conjuction with Agent Orange Legacy under a new project to get the VA to look beyond the Veteran to his children and grand children. He would like to talk with every one of our members who has a child or children with any type of disability.  We will file a claim for them, with the VA, listing the disability. Read more...

DFAS Scam

According to the Federal Daily News and the DFAS Home page there is an email scam involving DFAS (Defense Finance and Accounting Service) that handles pay for current VA employees, the military and retirees.

The scheme attempts to lure victims by telling them that if they are receiving Department of Veterans Affairs disability compensation, they may be able to obtain additional funds from the IRS. It then requires them to put tax return information, DD 214 etc. in the email.

Everyone should remember to never put private information in an unencrypted email.

If you receive such an email, contact DFAS yourself by telephone.

PTSD Class Action Settled

The Sacramento Bee reports that a federal judge has approved a settlement which compels the Department of Defense to provide lifetime health care and post-exchange privileges to 2,100 veterans who have been medically discharged since 2002 with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The affected veterans had been discharged with disability ratings that were too low to entitle them to such benefits. The settlement provides lifetime disability retirement benefits to 1,029 veterans with PTSD who had been denied aid previously. An additional 1,066 will have their disability benefits increased. Another 2,200 potentially affected veterans did not opt in to the class-action lawsuit, though they might take individual legal action.

VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA AND CAMPAIGN ENDORSEMENTS

(Washington, D.C.)Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) President John Rowan said today that VVA cannot make any endorsements of political candidates for any elected office.

VVAs Constitution and our not-for-profit tax status strictly prohibit the national organization, as well as local VVA chapters and state councils, from making any such endorsements, Rowan said. Read more...

Changes coming to www.vva885.org

Currently, I am performing double duty publishing informative content on both the chapter web site and the state web site. Logically, I should be posting data to a common source for all the members in the state, while maintaing an area for each chapter for individual news stories and updates, but available for viewing by anyone so that others with the same interests can be aware of what's going on around them, and promote an awareness that "we are not alone." Read more...

VVA: DD-214s are NOW Online

It's official; DD-214's are NOW On-line.

The National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) has provided the following web site for veterans to gain access to their DD-214's on-line: http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/

This may be particularly helpful when a veteran needs a copy of his DD-214 for employment purposes. NPRC is working to make it easier for veterans with computers and Internet access to obtain copies of documents from their military files. Read more...

New Address for NPRC

The National Personnel Records Center has a new address:

As a reminder, all retirees and Honorably Discharged veterans should ensure their family knows the location of their military Separation Document (DD Form 214).