By Pauline Jelinek

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Suicides among active-duty soldiers dropped last year for the first time since 2004, the Army said Wednesday, but the improvement was overshadowed by a sharp increase in suicides among National Guard and Reserve troops.

After working much of the past decade to stem the rise of suicide in its ranks, the Army said that 156 active-duty soldiers killed themselves in 2010, down from 162 in 2009.

Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Chiarelli attributed the progress to improved training and counseling programs that help soldiers deal with stress, including from the repeated wartime deployments common for soldiers in an Army still fighting two wars.

But the number of guard and reserve troops who killed themselves while not on active duty jumped to 145 from 80 the previous year. Officials said some of that increase may reflect the difficulty in getting help to people scattered away from military bases and back at their civilian homes and jobs.

“They are often geographically separated, removed from the support network provided by military installations,” Chiarelli said. “They lack the ready camaraderie of fellow soldiers and the daily oversight and hands-on assistance from members of the chain of command experienced while serving on active duty.”

Guard suicides rose to 101 last year from 48 in 2009 and in the Reserve to 44 last year from 32 the previous year.

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By Donna Miles
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2011 – To ensure military families don’t get left out as the new national health care reform law extends parent’s health insurance to their children up to age 26, TRICARE plans to roll out its new Young Adult Program by spring and to provide an option to make coverage retroactive to Jan. 1.

The new program will allow qualified, unmarried military children up to age 26 to buy health care coverage under their parents’ TRICARE plans through age 26, defense officials announced yesterday. That’s up from the current maximum age of 21, or 23 for full-time college students whose parents provide more than half their financial support.

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(PressZoom) – BLACKSBURG, Va., Jan. 12, 2011 – The Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University Center for Injury Biomechanics has been awarded a $2.8 million contract from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command for phase 2 of an overall project focusing on brain and eye injuries in military personnel.

Specifically, blast induced brain trauma will be investigated using experimental and computational models. Given improvements in helmet design and body armor and the resulting reductions in penetrating injuries, including penetrating head trauma, blast-related closed head injuries have become the signature injury of most military operations.

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(Reuters) – From the minute Judge Robert Russell walks into Buffalo Veterans Court, it is clear this is no ordinary courtroom.

“Hello everybody,” the judge says.

“Good afternoon, Judge,” everyone replies in unison.

The first defendant steps forward, and Russell asks him what branch of the military he served in.

“Navy, sir,” he says, and the room bursts into applause.

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WASHINGTON – Certain combat Veterans who were discharged from active duty service before Jan. 28, 2003 have until Jan. 27, 2011 to take advantage of their enhanced health care enrollment opportunity through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

“While there is no time limit for Veterans to apply for the VA health care they earned with their service, I highly encourage this group of combat Veterans to take advantage of the enhanced enrollment window to use their health care benefits through this simplified process,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki. “VA has health care eligibility specialists online and at every medical center eager to help Veterans take advantage of this opportunity.”

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On Tuesday, Jan. 11, the the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will host a webinar on requirements for the 2011 point-in-time (PIT) count. The webinar will also include a discussion about federal partnerships and an opportunity for participants to ask questions.

Registration is required. Interested parties can register here.

Title: HUD PIT Webinar
Date: Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Time: 3:00-4:30 PM EST

Register for the Webinar

WASHINGTON (Jan. 5, 2011) - To bring the educational benefits of the Post-9/11 GI Bill closer to more Veterans and Service Members, President Obama signed legislation Jan. 4 that streamlines the 18-month-old education program administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

“Since the first GI Bill in 1944, this unique educational program has adapted to the needs of America’s Veterans, active-duty personnel, reservists and Guardsmen,” said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K.

Shinseki. “Like its forbearers, the Post-9/11 GI Bill is growing to ensure the men and women who serve this nation in uniform receive valuable education benefits from a grateful nation.

“On behalf of Veterans and the many who serve them at VA, we would like to thank the president for his support, as well as members of Congress and our Veterans service organization partners for helping make this bill a reality,” Shinseki added.

Among the provisions of the legislation are:

Paying for on-the-job training, some flight training; apprenticeship training and correspondence courses;

Allowing reservists and Guardsmen to have their time supporting emergencies called by their state governors credited to the time needed to qualify for educational benefits;

Providing one half of the national average for the program’s housing allowance to students enrolled in distance learning;

Pro-rating the housing allowance to exclude payments when students are not in class;

Allowing students on active duty receive the stipend for books and supplies;

Allowing people eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill, but participating in VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) benefits to choose between the GI Bill’s housing allowance or VR&E’s subsistence allowance;

Permitting reimbursement for more than one “license and certification” test;

Reimbursing fees to take national admission tests, such as SAT, ACT, GMAT and LSAT; and

Establishing a national cap of $17,500 annually for tuition and fees in a private or a foreign school, not including contributions by educational institutions under the “Yellow Ribbon” program.

Information about the new provisions is available on the Internet at www.gibill.va.gov <http://www.gibill.va.gov/> .

By the end of December 2010, VA issued nearly $7.2 billion in tuition, housing, and stipends for more than 425,000 Veterans or eligible family members pursuing higher education under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

A brief overview of the program:

Participants must register for Military OneSource and log on to thesite for access to the H&R Block At Home Basic product. A separate logon for the H&R Block At Home site is required.

Those eligible for the program are active duty, Guard and Reserve(regardless of activation status), spouses and dependent children (authorized in DEERS), family members handling the affairs of a deployed service member, and severely injured service members or family members handling their affairs.

Participants will have free access to the H&R Block At Home Basicproduct. Those with more complicated returns may incur charges if they upgrade to the H&R Block At Home Premium product.

Participants can file up to three state resident returns for eachfederal return that they file with the H&R Block At Home Basic product.

Participants can speak with a Military OneSource Tax Consultant ifthey have tax related questions, or need assistance using the H&R Block At Home Basic product.

Find out more about the program by visiting the Military OneSource tax page:

  Military OneSource Tax Cut Flyer

http://www.militaryonesource.com/MOS/FindInformation/Category/TaxFilingServices.aspx

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2011 – Military OneSource will present a series of webinars this month designed to aid military families with everything from parenting and homework to money management and debt.

Webinars are web-based training sessions using teleconference audio and the Internet to deliver an interactive seminar.

I encourage our military families to check out these free workshops, which are open to anyone with access to Military OneSource. For more information on the webinars or to find out how to join one, visit Military OneSource’s webinar information page or call 1-800-342-9647.

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The new jail diversion program for veterans and others suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder aims to set people, particularly soldiers, on the path to recovery while holding them accountable for their crimes.

It relies on the cooperation of prosecutors, mental-health clinicians, judges and, perhaps most importantly, the discipline and desire of the defendants themselves. Now a pilot program in its initial phases in Kent County court, the hope is that it will ultimately become a statewide initiative that will provide trauma-informed training for police officers and others working in the criminal system. It is being overseen by the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals, in conjunction with The Kent Center, which provides behavioral health-care services.