VA funds to surge as troops return

The nation’s 22 million military veterans would receive more federal funding for health care, fighting homelessness and finding jobs under President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The plan calls for VA spending to grow 10.5 percent to $140.3 billion in the next fiscal year, up from $126.9 billion this fiscal year. The proposal comes as other segments of the military prepare for big cuts.

The White House wants to spend more on mental health services, health care needs of women veterans, and $1 billion over five years on a Veterans Jobs Corps to put 20,000 former soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to work.

The jobs would focus on building roads and trails on public lands.

By Barrie Barber

http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/va-funds-to-surge-as-troops-return-1328730.html

Yoga For Veterans in New York

Taught by veterans, classes are FREE for all veterans, family members and providers. Yoga for Vets NYC classes focus on the specific needs of veterans. Experience the benefits of yoga to relieve stress, recover from trauma, focus the mind, and heal the body.

All veterans are welcome regardless of age or physical ability. No previous yoga experience is necessary. Mats, props and lockers are provided. Please bring comfortable clothing and avoid eating at least one hour before class.http://yogaforvetsnyc.org/

New program helps veterans in prison

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — 

More than 1 million veterans are in jails and prisons in the U.S. More than 2,000 of them are in North Carolina prisons, arrested for crimes ranging from theft, to drugs, to murder.

Many incarcerated veterans suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, traumatic brain injury or other mental health issues. The problems are side effects of their service that they might not recognize until it’s too late.

But there is a new effort in Mecklenburg County to help them.

Wesley Woodling will never forget the night he killed an innocent man, someone he mistakenly thought was trying to rob him.

By Erica Bryant

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/local/new-program-helps-veterans-prison/nHX2R/

JBLM program reaches out to soldiers with PTSD, TBI

Joint-Base Lewis McChord has been in the news a lot lately and much of it hasn't been good: From soldiers behaving badly to increased suicide rates.

Now there is a program at the base that's showing success and giving hope to soldiers dealing with PTSD and traumatic brain injury [TBI].

Retired Sgt. Josh Renschler is leading the Men of Valor at JBLM. He says the program is a combination of the best practices from the medical and mental health communities.

Renschler says the program finds men when they're in crisis. "If evil things happen to me, if I get blown up over there, if I watch my buddy die, where is this great God that loves me?" he says the often ask.

Tony Miner

http://mynorthwest.com/108/621604/JBLM-program-reaches-out-to-soldiers-with-PTSD-TBI

Veterans train service dogs to help PTSD

(EmaxHealth) The Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction at the University of Missouri haa teamed up for a study to help veterans with PTSD. Veterans are paired with dogs for obedience training and then move on for specialized training to become service dogs for service members suffering from post traumatic stress disorder.

The idea it to pair veterans with dogs that would otherwise be euthanized.

Service members are given the opportunity to help animals heal. The meaningfulness of the activity could help veterans suffering from PTSD feel better

By Kathleen Blanchard

http://www.emaxhealth.com/1020/veterans-train-service-dogs-help-ptsd

Specialized rehab rare for brain-injured soldiers

When Army Sgt. Victor Medina returned home from Iraq in the summer of 2009, his life was a shambles. His tour had been cut short after he suffered a concussion during a roadside blast. Though his injury wasn't visible, he struggled with balance and noticed that his ability to read, think and even talk had changed for the worse.
But in the spring of 2011, Medina became one of the first patients at the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, the military's $65 million, state-of-the-art treatment center for brain-injured soldiers.
During his three weeks at the Bethesda, Md., center, the staff developed a rehabilitation program designed specifically for Medina. His recovery has progressed rapidly ever since, he and his wife, Roxana Delgado, told ProPublica and NPR.
Medina has continued to work from El Paso, Texas, by videoconference with a speech therapist based at the center, and he said his stutter is improving. After his injury, he had struggled to read more than a paragraph; now he says he can read and absorb two pages in one sitting. Medina also was ordered to stop driving after his injury, but he told ProPublica and NPR that he has regained his ability to do that, too.
"It's like night and day," Delgado said of his improvement.

 By:  Joaquin Sapien & Daniel Zwerdling
http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/nationworld/report/013012_soldierbraininjury/specialized-rehab-rare-brain-injured-soldiers/

Reunited troops, families face stresses of reconnecting

FORT HOOD, Texas – Jesse "Jay" Collins didn't expect to be home for Christmas this year. He thought he would spend the holidays in Iraq, far from his wife and kids.

Then weeks ago, he packed up as part of the last sustainment brigade in Iraq and headed back to theUSA, to resume the life he'd left behind 10 months before.

He and his wife know it won't be quite the same. His family is forever changed.

Now that the war is over, Collins and thousands of other soldiers are home, with visions of holidays and reunited families — and no new deployments looming on the horizon. Whether they make it to "happily ever after" depends in large part on how well they reconnect with family in the short-term as well as the long haul.

By Sharon Jayson

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/parenting-family/story/2011-12-20/Reunited-troops-families-face-stresses-of-reconnecting/52119966/1