VA last week announced several new initiatives in its overriding and ongoing quest to eliminate veteran suicide. In addition to $52.5 million in grants to 85 organizations that serve veterans in underserved geographical areas and populations of 41 different states, suicide prevention efforts will now include free emergency suicide prevention care to all veterans regardless of enrollment status. Help to veterans in urgent need of help will also include streamlining access to the Veterans Crisis […]

The 39th National Disabled Veteran’s Golf Clinic was held in Riverside, Iowa, September 8-13, 2024. The clinic unites veterans of all ages, disabilities, and branches of services. It is designed to challenge participants physically, mentally, and emotionally by offering a variety of adaptive sports and healthy food preparation classes. BVA National Administrative Coordinator Michaun Harrison, also a member of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Group, offers her perspective of this historically popular event: We enjoyed not only adaptive golf […]

National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established in 1979 through a proclamation signed by President Jimmy Carter after Congress passed a resolution designating the third Friday in September as a special day of remembrance. The actions responded to the push for full accountability on the part of the families of more than 2,500 Vietnam War POW/MIAs at the time. The National League of Families’ POW/MIA flag symbolizes the U.S. resolve to never forget Prisoners of War […]

Earlier this week, BVA National Executive Director Donald D. Overton, Jr. joined four members of Congress and other proponents of the bipartisan Service Dogs Assisting Veterans (SAVES) Act in expressing support for the pending legislation. The House bill, H.R. 9525, requires the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to award grants in the amount of $10 million annually to nonprofit organizations to assist them in carrying out programs to provide service dogs to eligible veterans. S. 2067, […]

Just as older veterans are redefining what it means to live as a senior citizen, VA, since 2021, has been reconstructing the landscape of health care for the nation’s veteran population. The future of health care requires bold approaches that truly value older veterans, consider their wishes, address their unique needs, and provide them with the best care possible. VA’s concern for older veterans has motivated the Department’s Office of Geriatrics and Extended Care to […]

The United States Air Force (USAF) celebrates its 77th birthday this Wednesday, September 18. World War II was over two years before and the Korean War lay three years ahead when the United States Air Force ended a 40-year association with the Army to become a separate service. With the signing of the National Security Act of 1947 by President Truman on September 18 of that year, the Air Force was created to establish airpower […]

Constitution Day and Constitution Week commemorate the adoption of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. Constitution Day this year falls this Tuesday. The observance of Constitution Week runs annually September 17-23. Officially enacted on August 2, 1956, by President Dwight D. Eisenhower from a congressional resolution petitioned by Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), Constitution Week carries the tradition of a Presidential Proclamation that continues today. A major purpose of the observance week is […]

Multiple Veterans Service Organizations, including BVA, joined together this week to call on Congress to pass supplemental legislation before September 20 in what is expected to be a government budget stopgap continuing resolution. Besides a $3 billion shortfall for the remainder of the year, VA officials have confirmed that they are asking Congress to include, in the same bill, an additional $12 billion for the Department’s 2025 medical budget. The measure must be passed by […]

With the summer heat moderating and milder weather on the horizon, BVA National Membership Coordinator and adaptive sports enthusiast Teresa Galgano shares an outdoor autumn activity option offering both challenge and unexpected rewards to a blind or low vision veteran. When I first heard about adaptive mountain biking, I wasn’t sure if it was something I could tackle. However, I decided to take the plunge, and what a surprise! Not only did I do it, […]

BVA supports National Guide Dog Month during September! While a formal annual celebration of guide dogs in the United States may be relatively new, historians and anthropologists trace the domestication of dogs to approximately 150,000 years ago. Ancient artifacts and scrolls show instances in which dogs were guiding their human companions. The first attempt to train guide dogs was in Paris at the ‘Les Quinze-Vingts’ hospital for the blind. The founder of the Institute for […]