The military's government shutdown guide
Yes, civilians who work for the military will have to report to work Oct. 1 if Congress and the White House cannot agree on funding the government by midnight Monday, Sept. 30. But some may be sent...
View ArticleShinseki: VA backlog repair depends on reduction in claims, move to...
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki believes that there is a chance of real progress in reducing the agency's health centers' 900,000-claim backlog in 2013. He told my Military Times...
View ArticleSen. Carl Levin: Let's keep sexual assault cases within the ranks
In a move that that essentially would maintain the status quo, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday he will strip a measure from a defense spending bill that would take...
View ArticleOne contrite liar's opinion: the nation needs a Stolen Valor Act
We ran a Military Times piece in today's paper about the Pentagon reversing an earlier decision rejecting creation of a database of valor award recipients as a way to check dubious claims. Supreme...
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New DoD medals database launched
In case you missed this Wednesday, the Pentagon has stepped beyond "considering" formation of a searchable valor medals database to actually launching one. It was a baby step -- the database lists only...
View ArticleIndependent review of VA backlog on the way
A House subcommittee voted Wednesday to look into the Veterans Benefits Administration's still-enormous backlog of disability benefits claims and to study possible fixes, my former colleague Rick Maze...
View ArticleDraft Pentagon report shows cost efficiency of Guard, reserves
The Pentagon is not too happy about the leak of a report it has generated for Congress showing that Reserve Component troops are far less expensive than active-duty members - a conclusion sure to play...
View ArticleCoons praises Air Force decision to end civilian furloughs in 2014
The Air Force didn't exactly trumpet the news that it won't furlough civilian employees in fiscal year 2014 no matter what sort of budget cuts are forced on the service as a result of the...
View ArticleCeremony honors fallen medical personnel
Stephen McGowan was on patrol in Ramadi, Iraq, when a roadside bomb went off on March 4, 2005, killing him and three other soldiers. McGowan, a 26-year-old corporal from Newark and graduate of St....
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