The Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs has announced its members. Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) has returned as chairman, and Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) has returned as ranking member. The VFW has successfully worked with both Chairman Tester and Ranking Member Moran in the past, most recently highlighted last year by the historic passage of the PACT Act. Many other senators named to the committee also served on it during last Congress.
Free Connections to Resources
The National Resource Directory (NRD) gives service members, veterans, family members, and caregivers the ability to find and connect with organizations that can assist with specialized recovery, rehabilitation, and reintegration needs. The NRD is the product of a partnership with DOD, VA, and the Department of Labor. This program is meant to facilitate free connections between individuals and stringently vetted resources that provide support in many areas such as employment, education, veteran benefits, caregiver support, housing, and the Military Adaptive Sports Program.
VA Health Care Open Enrollment
As part of the PACT Act, VA has expanded health care eligibility for certain veterans who were discharged after Sept. 11, 2001, and before Oct. 1, 2013. A one-year open enrollment period began Oct. 1, 2022, for this group of veterans depending on their dates and locations of service, regardless of disability claim status. Once the open enrollment period has closed, veterans from this group will be eligible for VA health care as part of a phase-in process, depending on discharge date.
POW/MIA Update
Navy Seaman 1st Class Donald A. Stott, 19, of Monticello, Iowa, was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft on Dec. 7, 1941. He will be buried on March 25, 2023, in Monticello, Iowa.
Army Air Forces Cpl. Charles W. Eeds, 23, of Durant, Oklahoma, was a member of the 48th Materiel Squadron in the Philippines, when Japanese forces invaded the Philippine Islands in December 1941. Eeds was among those captured when U.S. forces in Bataan surrendered to the Japanese in 1942. He will be buried on May 19, 2023, in Norman, Oklahoma.
Till next week, praying for all service members.
– Charles Castelluccio
