Women Veterans Campaign: The Department of Veterans Affairs partnered with Lean In Women Veterans to launch the campaign “I Serve” in efforts to highlight women veterans who have answered the call to duty. The campaign aspires to promote the diversity of women veterans and celebrate the many accomplishments they have had in our military. To participate, female veterans are asked to record a 15-second video on their phones reading a specific script–– “I am (name), and this is what a veteran looks like…” (Pause) “I serve/served!” To learn more about the campaign, go to likeawomanblog.wordpress.com.
Quarterly PTSD Research Report Released: The National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder released their quarterly report Tuesday. The publication focused on accelerated aging associated with PTSD that has been researched by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University School of Medicine. This is believed to be mostly due to stress and external environmental factors increased by PTSD that lead to poor physical health. Researchers also believe that mental health directly impacts the physiology of individuals just as much as their external environment.
Delay in DOD’s New Electronic Health Care Record: Last week, the Department of Defense announced it would modify its initial rollout of its new electronic health care record, Military Health System (MHS) GENESIS. Instead of piloting MHS GENESIS in four military installations before the end of the calendar year, DOD will begin the new health care record at Fairchild Air Force Base this year and expand to other inpatient facilities in the Pacific Northwest by June 2017. DOD is still on track for full implementation by 2022. To learn more about MHS GENESIS, go to www.health.mil.
Veterans Online Self-Help Resources: The Department of Veterans Affairs has created free, online and confidential training for service members and veterans to learn skills and tools to manage stress and to overcome life’s challenges, such as parenting, financial difficulties and adjustment issues. To learn more, go to, www.veterantraining.va.gov.
Defense POW/MIA Up Date: * Navy Seaman 2nd Class James N. Phipps, 24, of Rainier, Ore., will be buried Oct. 17 in Portland, Ore. On Dec. 7, 1941, Phipps was assigned to the USS Oklahoma, which capsized after sustaining multiple torpedo hits as it was moored off Ford Island in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The attack on the battleship resulted in 429 casualties. * Pfc. James S. Smith, 19, will be buried Oct. 17 in his hometown of Liberty, Miss. In November 1943, Smith was assigned to Company C, 2nd Amphibious Tractor Battalion, 2nd Marine Division. Smith died sometime on the first day of battle, Nov. 20, 1943. * Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Donald L. Beals, 22, of Brookings, S.D., will be buried Oct. 17 in Arlington National Cemetery. On April 17, 1945, Beals was piloting a P-47D Thunderbolt on an armed reconnaissance mission when he was shot down by antiaircraft fire near Dresden, Germany.
Till next week, praying for all service members.
— Charles Castelluccio
