washingtonscene
of their unit. Once home, they lacked the support and resources needed to make the transition easier, especially for women in the reserve components and those who are mothers and grandmothers. Remaining problems notwithstanding,
the VA has made commendable progress in the past decade and continues to ag- gressively work these challenges. MOAA will do its part to monitor and stimulate continued improvements.
Hearings Cite
Care Gaps PTSD and suicide both remain concerns.
T
he House Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Health met July 11 to hear testimony on the
VA’s caregiver assistance program, imple- mented in May and mandated by Congress in 2010 in the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act. Witnesses talked of their concerns about the VA’s eligibility criteria, trans- parency and consistency in program implementation, communication with wounded warriors and their caregivers and families, and the process for appeal- ing VA decisions. On July 14, the Senate Veterans’ Affairs
Committee also held a hearing to deter- mine how best to close gaps in mental health care for veterans. Committee chair Sen. Patty Murray
(D-Wash.) opened the hearing with three sobering points: • A third of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who have enrolled in VA care have PTSD. • On average, 18 veterans kill themselves every day.
36 MILITARY OFFICER SEPTEMBER 2011
• “The difficult truth is that somewhere in this country, while we hold this hearing, it is likely that a veteran will take his or her own life.” Murray said the Pentagon must do a bet- ter job of identifying and treating service- members before they leave the military. She stressed both DoD and the VA must include family members who are exposed to the mental health issues of the veteran. The stories from wounded warriors emphasized what we often hear from ser- vicemembers: beneficiaries too often find themselves having to fight the very systems that are supposed to be caring for them. “I feel I’m [forced to be] the captain of
the team,” said Andrea Sawyer, spouse-care- giver of Army Sgt. Loyd Sawyer, who was diagnosed with severe PTSD as a result of his mortuary affairs duties. “I have to con- stantly ask VA providers to review Loyd’s record [i.e., to understand what he’s been through and his treatments] and make sure they confer with his counselor. It’s a 24- hour job, but that’s how I keep him alive.” MOAA thinks we need to bring these hidden issues to light, hold the VA and DoD accountable, and ensure the country does right by our servicemembers and veterans and their families.
MOAA: Resist Retirement
Cuts White House and Congress consider “reforms.”
M
OAA Government Relations Director Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF-Ret., was among several
association leaders invited to a July 14 White House briefing on the status of on-
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