The Fight For The National Defense Authorization Act

The issue of veterans’ health care has dominated public discourse for many years, with various statistics

This pilot program is required to be implemented in not less than five Veterans Integrated Service Networks (VISNs). The program includes community oriented veteran peer support networks that will provide peer-support training guidelines and the development of a network of veteran peer-support counselors that are trained and readily available to veterans. Also creation of community outreach team for each medical facility that will assist veterans transitioning into communities, establishment of an veteran transition advisory group to facilitate outreach activities, collaboration with community and government organization to help provide thorough services to veterans, and coordination with the VISNs to carry out an annual mental health summit to assess the veteran mental health programs an care and to develop new means to providing services (Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act, 2015). Evaluation of the community outreach pilot program is required 18 months after its initial inception and the final report is required 90 days before the dissolution. The pilot program is for a term of 3 years (Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention Act, 2015).

Veteran suicide among our soldiers is a distressing and tragic reality. Per the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) http://www.va.gov/opa/docs/Suicide-Data-Report-2012-final.pdf a staggering 22 veterans take their own lives each day. That's a suicide every 65 minutes. This is a heartbreaking truth that has not adequately received the attention it deserves from the civilian world. To add insult to injury http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-0202-veteran-suicide-20150402-story.html tells us that there are two key high-risk groups of soldiers who typically are ineligible for psychiatric care: those forced out of the military for misconduct and those who enlisted but were quickly discharged for other problems. In each of those groups, an average of 46 of every 100,000 former service members committed suicide each

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2012 (H.R. 1540) was introduced into the 112th Congress on April 14, 2011 by Representative Howard P. "Buck" McKeon (R-CA), chairman of the Armed Services Committee (Library of Congress, 2012). The NDAA 2012 was cosponsored by Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), a ranking member of the Armed Services Committee. This bill essentially authorizes annually federal funding for all Department of Defense operations, including the military, and defense operations within the Department of Energy (OpenCongress, 2012). The amount budgeted for the 2012 fiscal year was $662 billion (Mariner, 2011, para. 14), which represents about 73 percent of the total defense budget and just over 18% of the entire federal budget (Chantrill, 2012).

The acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs (SECVA) is currently Peter O'Rourke. Mr. O'Rourke serves as the interim SECVA following the departure of David Shulkin in early 2018. David Shulkin left the VA amidst an ethics violation, which will be expanded upon in the Leadership Challenges and Issues section. The Veterans Benefits Administration and its subordinate offices provide benefits and associated services to veterans or their surviving family members (Veterans Affairs, 2018). The Veterans Health Administration and its subordinate offices provide health care for the nation's veterans (Veterans Affairs, 2018). The National Cemetary Administration and its subordinate offices provide burial and memorial benefits and cemetery management to the nation's veterans (Veterans Affairs, 2018). This paper will focus mainly on the VA secretary's office and the Veterans Health

President Obama’s endorsed the “Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014” (Public Law 113-146) on August 7, 2014. The Veterans Access and Accountability Act often referred to as the “Choice Act”, set forth public law aiding the enhancement of veteran’s benefits (American Association of State Colleges Universities Policy Matter Brief, 2015). However, the goals of the “Choice Act” are to ensure that Veterans receive time “high quality” health care services (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs,

Throughout history, citizens have seen the need to care for those who have defended their freedoms. Research shows veteran’s assistance programs dates back to the early settlement of the colonies that would later become the United States of America. In the year 1636, the Pilgrims, who were at war with the Pequot Indians, passed a law that stated they would take care of the disabled veterans who had fought in that conflict.

There are several barriers to rural veterans receiving quality of care. These include the rural and military stigma against mental health services, the insufficient timeliness of receiving care, the lack of skilled professionals in positions to serve veterans, and the tangible challenge of access to care. These barriers cause many veterans to not receive services at all. At best, it causes major hindrances for rural veterans resulting in sporadic treatment, low quality of care (Buzza, et al., 2011) and financial concerns (Gayle & Heady, 2011).

There are a lot scholarly articles online that debate the validity of the VA as a source of funding for veterans, which is one of its primary purposes. Many argue that government already gives extensive

Thomas Brennan, a U.S Marine Veteran and Purple Heart Recipient from North Carolina, is tragically the depiction of why the VA needs reconstruction and more resources. When calling about his prescription for his intense migraines he get as a result to a traumatic brain injury, he was told for the third time that they [the VA] forgot to fill the prescription (Jones). “‘And when you’re sitting at home like this, you don’t feel like you matter to the doctors who are supposed to take care of you,’” said Brennan to one of the many VA officials he had to talk to when asking about his prescription. The 2014 Veteran's Choice Program was made to liberate Veteran’s from complications like this.

Enhancing veteran care is the top priority for us all, providing opportunities to veterans enabling them to become actively involved with their healthcare will generate an enriching supportive foundation on every level of health care. Utilizing this “multi-disciplinary” structure encompuses and promotes active health care management that heighten their physical/mental well-being.

Regardless of the numbers, or rates, one Veteran suicide is one too many. The VA and many other prominent veteran organizations, military leaders, and community leaders, continue to spread the word that “Suicide Prevention is Everyone’s responsibility.” The VA continues to address Veterans’ needs through strategic partnerships with community and federal partners and seeks to enhance these partnerships. However, the core issues are not being solved. The government or its administrative entities will not be able to solve the veteran suicide crisis. The VA’s negligent record of mismanagement, patient abuse, nepotism, and outright bullying and suppression of whistleblowers, speaks for

In March 2010, the United States Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA") released a sobering statistic: every eighty minutes, a military veteran commits suicide” (Mccarl and Lindsay 395). As one can see, this is a major problem in our society. Most of these suicides are from veterans with mental disorders, such as PTSD (Post traumatic stress disorder). Disorders such as this cause suicide, and are not always caught by professionals and/or families, and can even affect children of the victim in particular. There have been many solutions that have been proposed in the past but none of them tend to lower the percentage dramatically of veteran suicides in the United States. A solution that could now solve the problem would be a year of free counseling for a veteran after his/her tour. These statistics need to be addressed before it gets too out of hand.

The National Defense Authorization Act, also known as NDAA, is a federal law established in the United States that manages and specifies the budgets and expenses of the United States Department of Defense. On December 31, 2011, President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012. This bill will address the United States’ national security programs, combat terrorism, it will increase the pay and health care to our service men and women. The dark side of this bill lies in the sections 1021-1022. This section of the bill states that any individual, including American citizen that is suspected of terrorism will be incarcerated in an undisclosed location without any trial or court hearing by the U.S. military. This bill caused the Hedges v. Obama lawsuit in 2013. This lawsuit, which was filed by Christopher Hedges, a New York Times reporter, challenged

(2012) suggest that suicide prevention strategies must be implemented by professionals who understand military culture and the unique pressures of social cohesion and mental health stigma. Braswell and Kushner (2012, p. 535) agree that efforts must be implemented in a way that “account for the lived experience of soldiers.” Although these recommendations are in line with a growing body of academic scholarship on the topic of military suicide, it will be difficult to implement successful policy without a better understanding of what is behind the difference and change in suicide rate. With incomplete information or a lack of causality, policymakers will be unprepared to determine if the outcomes of their actions are an improvement compared to maintenance of current