Departments of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the US

NATIONAL LEGISLATIVE SERVICE

1. President Nominates New VA Secretary: President Bush nominated former Army Surgeon General and combat-wounded veteran Dr. James Peake to head the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Based on his record of accomplishments in uniform and in the private sector, VFW Commander-in-Chief George Lisicki hopes Dr. Peake will be a strong veterans' advocate.  "We hope he will bring that same level of passion and drive into the VA, because he certainly has the prerequisite credentials and organizational skills to lead the second largest federal department."  To read the VFW Press release, go to:
http://www.vfw.org/index.cfm?fa=news.newsDtl&did=4340.

2. VFW Testifies on VA Construction: The VFW testified Thursday before the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Health on the VA's construction process.  The VFW testified in support of full funding for VA's construction priorities so that veterans can have first-rate health care in clean, modern facilities.  The VFW also pointed out the need for more funding for maintenance to prevent conditions at VA's aging infrastructure from deteriorating.  For testimony and more on the hearing, go to the House VA website at
http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/.

3. SVAC holds USERRA Hearing: The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing this week on the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), a law that provides broad employment and re-employment rights to members of the military.  The committee asked witnesses to speak specifically on the number of USERRA claims being filed by returning  servicemembers in connection with their employment in the federal workforce.  Chairman Akaka (D-HI) referenced a recent law (P.L. 108-454), which provided a pilot program that gave the Office of the Special Counsel authority to receive and investigate federal sector USERRA claims.  Older federal and private  claims were handled by the Department of Labor's Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS).  GAO also reported to Congress the results of their recent investigation on all federal sector USSERA claims being handled by Labor or the Office of Special Counsel. GAO found the latter to be better equipped to handle USERRA claims.  For more on the hearing, visit the Senate VA website at: http://veterans.senate.gov/public/.

NATIONAL SECURITY & FOREIGN AFFAIRS

1. JPAC International Toll Free Number: The Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command unveiled another method to connect with those around the world who may have information about missing service members: an international toll-free telephone number.  The new number, 1-866-913-1286, allows those overseas to call JPAC free of charge, and talk to historians and military intelligence analysts about possible leads pertaining to missing and unaccounted-for Americans.  The new method provides another option, along with JPAC's online site reporting form and email on the JPAC website at http://www.jpac.pacom.mil/.  All calls will initially be routed to JPAC's Public Affairs Office.  The office will then forward calls and messages to the appropriate section.  Information gathered from private citizens will be used to hopefully generate new case leads.  JPAC has linguists for most countries where MIAs are believed to be located to interpret for callers who do not speak English.  JPAC's mission is to achieve the fullest possible accounting of missing service members from past U.S. conflicts. There are approximately 88,000 unaccounted-for since World War II.

2. Vietnam War MIAs Identified:  The Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced that the remains of five U.S. Navy servicemen, missing in action from the Vietnam War, have been identified and will be returned to their families for burial with full military honors.  They are Lt. j.g. Norman L. Roggow, of Aurelia, IA; Lt. j.g. Donald F. Wolfe, of Hardin, MT; Lt. j.g. Andrew G. Zissu, of Bronx, NY; Chief Petty Officer Roland R. Pineau, of Berkley, MI; and Petty Officer 3rd Class Raul A. Guerra, of Los Angeles.  On Oct. 8, 1967, Zissu and Roggow were the pilots of an E-1B Tracer en route from Chu Lai Air Base, Vietnam, back to the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany.  Also on board were Wolfe, Pineau and Guerra. Radar contact with the aircraft was lost approximately 10 miles northwest of Da Nang, Vietnam.  Adverse weather hampered immediate search efforts, but three days later, a search helicopter spotted the wreckage of the aircraft on the face of a steep mountain in Da Nang Province.  The location, terrain and hostile forces in the area precluded a ground recovery.  In 1993 and 1994, human remains were repatriated to the United States by Vietnam, with information that linked the remains to unassociated losses in the same geographical area as this incident.  Between 1993 and 2004, US/Vietnamese teams, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, investigated the incident more than 15 times.  In 2004 and 2005, the joint teams surveyed and excavated the crash site, where they recovered human remains and crew-related items.

3. Reserve Component Mobilization: The total number currently on active duty in support of the partial mobilization for the Army National Guard and Army Reserve is 73,034; Navy Reserve, 5,895; Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 7,033; Marine Corps Reserve, 7,589; and the Coast Guard Reserve, 347.  This brings the total number of mobilized Guard and Reserve personnel to 93,898, an increase of 927 from last week.