Obama Rejects Plan to Close Guantanamo As Too Costly

-Thursday, 3 December 2015

-Did you know:

-Defense Secretary Ash Carter taps Marine general as top military adviser.

-Obama Rejects Plan to Close Guantanamo as Too Costly.

-Experts: Pentagon's Tech Edge Faltering.

-Hearings begin in battle over relocating US base on Okinawa.

-Army Europe leaders want more helicopters to fill 'aviation deficit'.

-Marine Rebuked for Performing at Donald Trump Rally in Uniform.

-Moran: Training Must Address a Shrinking Force, More Capable Foes.

-Welsh sounds alarm on undermanned Air Force.

-Senate pushes overhaul of military promotion system.

-Tricare to change autism therapy reimbursement rates.

-Bill Would Give VA Secretary Authority to Recoup Employee Relocation Expenses.

-Congress should support seamless access to care for Veterans.

-Veterans Affairs says Choice plan too complicated, Senators question program consolidation costs.

-VA health consolidation plan faces skeptical senators.

-VA loosens rules for referrals to private doctors in effort to expand access to care.

-VA updates Choice Program eligibility with wait-time criteria.

-Report shows Veteran’s Health Administrations outperform private sectors.

-Pittsburgh VA alerts 400 about possible tuberculosis exposure.

-VA Pittsburgh confirms tuberculosis case, notifies 400 Veterans.

-2016 National Defense Act Contains Education and GI Bill Changes.

-Homelessness: Plenty of Talk, Not Enough Commitment.

-Soldier who lost 4 limbs aims to inspire others with book.

Did you know:

Mirror therapy offers relief to service members with phantom pain:It’s a problem that in one way isn’t really there, but to those it hits, it’s very real. Phantom limb pain is a condition that affects those with amputations. Military medical researchers are working to better understand the phenomenon, and they have found an effective treatment.

Marine Corps TimesDefense Secretary Ash Carter taps Marine general as top military adviser.Defense Secretary Ash Carter has tapped a one-star Marine Corps general to be his senior military adviser, replacing the Army three-star who was fired last month, a defense official said. Carter selected Brig. Gen. Eric M. Smith, currently commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces South, according to a defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the appointment has not been publicly announced.

Wall Street JournalObama Rejects Plan to Close Guantanamo as Too Costly. President asks Pentagon for revised blueprint for building detainee facility in U.S. as time runs down on one of his longtime priorities.

Defense NewsExperts: Pentagon's Tech Edge Faltering. The Pentagon's weapons buying system needs an overhaul if the US military is to maintain its waning technological edge, experts told senators on Tuesday.

Stars and Stripes Hearings begin in battle over relocating US base on Okinawa.Japan's government has violated the rights of Okinawa's residents for decades by allowing a heavy presence of American troops on the tiny southern island, Okinawa's governor told a court hearing Wednesday, the start of a legal battle over plans to relocate a U.S. air base.

Army TimesArmy Europe leaders want more helicopters to fill 'aviation deficit'. Army leaders in Europe are asking for more rotational helicopters and aviators to fill an "aviation deficit" as the service shrinks its sole combat aviation brigade in the region.

Military.comMarine Rebuked for Performing at Donald Trump Rally in Uniform. A Marine who recently performed the national anthem at a Donald Trump presidential campaign rally has been told to cease further uniformed campaign activities. Cpl. Jason Perkins, a reservist with Combat Logistics Battalion 451 out of Charlotte, North Carolina, awed crowds at a Nov. 21 campaign rally for the Republican candidate in Birmingham, Alabama, with a booming rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner," which he performed in his dress blue uniform. But when a video of the performance began circulating online, members of the military quickly pointed out that he was in violation of regulations prohibiting troops from wearing their uniforms to political events.

Defense NewsMoran: Training Must Address a Shrinking Force, More Capable Foes.Training needs to be designed to address the shrinking military services and to cope with more capable adversaries, Vice Adm. Bill Moran, the US Navy's chief of personnel, said Tuesday in his keynote address at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education (I/ITSEC) conference in Orlando.

Air Force TimesWelsh sounds alarm on undermanned Air Force. "Virtually every mission area" faces critical manning shortages, according to Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh, and the Air Force risks burning airmen out.

Stars and Stripes Senate pushes overhaul of military promotion system.Days after passing a retirement overhaul, Congress is already pressing ahead with another round of potentially historic military personnel reforms for 2016, taking aim this week at promotions and the health care system.

Military TimesTricare to change autism therapy reimbursement rates.Tricare is changing its autism therapy reimbursement rates to better align them with commercial insurance rates and Medicaid, Defense Department officials said Tuesday.

FedSmith.com: Bill Would Give VA Secretary Authority to Recoup Employee Relocation Expenses.Legislation introduced this week by House Veterans Affairs Committee chairman Congressman Jeff Miller (R-FL) would give the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs authority to recoup relocation expenses paid to the agency’s employees. The pertinent section of the bill (H.R. 4138) reads: The Secretary may direct an employee of the Department [VA] to repay the amount, or a portion of the amount, paid to or on behalf of the employee under title 5 for relocation expenses…

The Hill: Congress should support seamless access to care for Veterans.Last month Secretary McDonald presented a plan to Congress designed to consolidate the VA’s multiple programs that administer private healthcare to veterans. And while the secretary and his team work diligently to transform the VA into a 21st Century institution that can efficiently and effectively meet the demands of both older and newer veterans alike, there are unfortunately too many of our returning warriors still waiting for care.

The Washington Times: Veterans Affairs says Choice plan too complicated, Senators question program consolidation costs.The VA said Wednesday that it wants to consolidate seven different programs that allow veterans to receive care from private doctors, saying that the operations have become too unwieldy as Congress has added more beneficiaries to the rolls. Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson said veterans are getting confused by the multiple programs, each with different eligibility rules, and that means some of them aren’t using programs that could help.

Military Times: VA health consolidation plan faces skeptical senators.Lawmakers and veterans groups raised concerns Wednesday over the Veterans Affairs Department's ability to implement a consolidation plan for its community care programs, citing the department's past failures and ongoing issues in executing initiatives. VA announced last month an ambitious plan to consolidate seven community health care programs, including the newest and largest, Veterans Choice, into a New Veterans Choice Program, with clearer eligibility rules, improved access to care and faster payments to participating providers.

The Washington Post (Federal Eye): VA loosens rules for referrals to private doctors in effort to expand access to care.The Department of Veterans Affairs, under pressure to expand veterans’ access to private doctors outside its understaffed medical system, announced new rules Tuesday to expand the number of patients who are eligible under the Veterans Choice Program. The agency said its staff has now been given broader flexibility to determine if a veteran can be referred to a private clinic or doctor’s office.

FierceGovernmentIT: VA updates Choice Program eligibility with wait-time criteria.Eligibility changes unveiled by the Veterans Affairs Department Tuesday permit more veterans to use a program that allows them to seek care outside of the VA health system and use private healthcare providers and facilities. Previously, eligibility in the Veterans Choice Program was determined primarily by distance to a VA facility and health conditions that make travel to a VA facility difficult…

WJMN-TV (CBS-3, Video): Report shows Veteran’s Health Administrations outperform private sectors.A recent report reflects on the care that veterans are receiving across the nation. The report was conducted by a trio of research groups, and found that Veterans Health Administration outperforms private sector health providers on several key measures. The report was based on multiple areas of criteria for impatient and outpatient care.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Pittsburgh VA alerts 400 about possible tuberculosis exposure.The Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Health Care System is sending cautionary letters to 400 veterans who might have come in contact with someone who was diagnosed with tuberculosis Nov. 17. The infected person has visited a VA outpatient clinic in Beaver County and VA Pittsburgh's campus on University Drive in Oakland since September, according to a Wednesday news release.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: VA Pittsburgh confirms tuberculosis case, notifies 400 Veterans.The Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System is notifying 400 people after a patient came down with tuberculosis recently, the health system reported this afternoon. VA clinicians confirmed the patient’s bacterial infection on Nov. 17, and the veteran is “responding well to antibiotics,” the VA said in an announcement. Doctors have spotted no additional cases, according to the health system.

Military.com: 2016 National Defense Act Contains Education and GI Bill Changes.Congress was surprised and upset to learn that many veterans were receiving free tuition at school, a housing allowance to pay all their housing costs, $1,000 a year book stipend from their GI Bill and then turning around and drawing unemployment. This was a loophole in the law nobody saw coming and apparently quite a few people took advantage of, enough to cause Congress to insert language into the law prohibiting the receipt of unemployment benefits while receiving the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

The Huffington Post (The Blog): Homelessness: Plenty of Talk, Not Enough Commitment.As someone who has spent 44 years on the streets of Los Angeles working to help homeless veterans, I hear a lot of talk and see a lot of reports on homelessness. But the scene we see on the ground has not changed much from when I started working with homeless vets in the 1970s. If anything, it is worse than it's ever been.

Associated PressSoldier who lost 4 limbs aims to inspire others with book.A soldier who lost all four limbs during an explosion in Afghanistan aims to inspire others with the story of how he recovered from the wounds, picked up the pieces and began helping other amputees.