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4/26/2017 - By Brian Duffy — This month marks the third anniversary of a nationwide crisis in access to care that branded the Department of Veterans Affairs as an inept and corrupt government bureaucracy that was failing in its primary mission to care for those who had borne the battle. In the aftermath, Congress quickly crafted a new law to improve the Secretary of Veterans Affairs’ authority to remove senior VA executives for performance or misconduct. The new authority did not l...

11/1/2017 - When Stacy Pearsall entered the Air Force in 1998, she didn’t know the adventures before her. A photographer with the 1st Combat Camera Squadron based in Charleston, S.C., Pearsall would travel to 41 countries before she was medically retired in 2010 from wounds sustained while serving her second tour in Iraq in 2007. A member of VFW Post 10256 in Goose Creek, S.C., Pearsall said serving in the military was important to her. Her dad was in the Navy, and both of her grand...

9/20/2017 - From the marshy coastal plains of the Deep South to the deserts and mountains of the Southwest, Tom Wiseman traveled across the southern U.S. on a fundraising mission for VFW Post 4419 in Clay, W. Va. In June 2016, that part of the Mountain State was devastated by floods that left 24 people dead and hundreds of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed. The losses also included Post 4419's 15-passenger van that was used to take the county’s veterans to receive health car...

8/15/2017 - Samantha Bedore, 26, from Phoenix, Ariz., knew the opportunity to attend graduate school would help her pursue a better life for her and her family. But she worried that she’d be forced to take out huge student loans. U.S. Army veteran Samantha Bedore. Fortunately, Bedore found the VFW's “Sport Clips Help a Hero Scholarship" online. The funds are helping her complete her Doctorate in Physical Therapy at Midwestern University...

5/10/2017 - “As a Marine, I learned how to adapt to uncertainty and persevere in difficult circumstances. I conducted regional threat analysis and worked closely with diplomatic and military leaders across the world.” Robert Dahlhausen, 27, of Cincinnati, Ohio, served five years as a Corporal in the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit. After studying Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., Dahlhausen deployed as a Linguist. He worked in countries across the Mediterr...

8/3/2017 - Drawing has been a part of Mike Rodriguez’s life since childhood, but a wound that ended his military career also put his illustrator tendencies on hold. Rodriguez, who served in Iraq from June to November 2004, with Bravo Co., 1st Bn., 8th Marines, as a rifleman, was wounded on Thanksgiving Day 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. He was shot, losing nerve feeling and fine-motor skills on his right side. His shoulder was dislocated, he said, and he nearly lost his right leg to compa...

5/17/2017 - KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court presented a unanimous ruling on the case of Howell v. Howell, establishing clear guidance for military divorce settlements under the Uniformed Services Former Spouses’ Protection Act (USFSPA), and was in line with the Amicus Curiae brief filed in the case by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. USFSPA authorizes state courts to treat veterans’ military retirement pay, in addition to other benefits, as community pro...

4/12/2013 - Many questions loom surrounding potential cuts to government programs geared to assist America’s veterans and service members as a result of sequestration. Armed with its 2013 Legislative Priority Goals, the VFW will continue to combat all changes or cuts to programs that could have an adverse effect on our nation’s heroes. We want you to know exactly where we stand on the issues. So, we are hosting our first VFW Twitter Chat Friday, April 19, 2013, at 10:30 a.m. EDT....

4/2/2013 - Servicemen and women separating from the military often find themselves in the daunting cycle of job hunting. Many find it difficult to translate their military skills into the civilian market, while others are stonewalled by employers unsure of what to do with vets. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual jobless rate for Afghanistan and Iraq War-era vets during 2012 was 9.9%. But there is good news. According to the Institute for Veter...

12/17/2014 - Jason Newcomb wasn’t even 40 years old when a damaged heart valve nearly killed him. “I took my wife Stacy out to dinner. The next thing I know I’m waking up in a hospital bed two weeks later,” said Jason Newcomb, Retired Air Force Technical Sergeant. Newcomb had suffered an aortic dissection. As he described it, his heart valve “peeled apart like a lemon,” requiring him to undergo a ten-hour emergency surgery to have the faulty heart valve replaced. He spent two weeks i...