Commanders Have a Lot to Learn Fast on Transgender Issue
Ash Carter announced that, effective immediately, transgender service members could be open about their preferred gender without fear of involuntary dismissal or denial of enlistment or continued...
View ArticleMany TRICARE Beneficiaries to Get New Contractors in 2017
Military Update:Leaders of military medicine are promising TRICARE beneficiaries a smooth transition of healthcare coverage next year when three support contract regions (North, South and...
View ArticleProgress on Reserve Vet Status, Veteran Preference
A newer initiative, being pushed by Reserve Officers Association, would make many more former Reserve and Guard members who were called to active duty under support orders eligible for veteran...
View ArticleVA Predicts Emergency Care Claim Tsunami if Court Ruling Upheld
Military Update: More than two million claims for private sector emergency healthcare services provided to VA-enrolled veterans since February 2010 could be eligible for VA reimbursement...
View ArticleOnline Exchange Shopping for 19 Million Vets Eyed in 2017
Military Update: The Defense Department’s Executive Resale Board voted unanimously last week to recommend that military exchange services open online discount shopping to 19 million honorably...
View ArticleCommissary Shoppers to Get Clearer View of Their Savings
Military Update: Commissary shoppers have long suspected that they save more on groceries at some bases than at others, compared to local commercial stores. Defense...
View ArticleAlmost a Million Expected to Opt for ‘Blended’ Retirement
Military Update: More than 740,000 currently serving active duty members and 176,000 drilling Reserve and National Guard personnel are expected to opt in to the...
View ArticleCommission Defends Integrating VA Care and Outside Docs
Military Update: Commission on Care leaders defended their tough diagnosis and 18-point treatment plan for what ails the VA healthcare system, including their controversial push to...
View ArticleHouse Votes Faster Firings at VA, Speedier Claim Appeals
Military Update: The House voted 310-116 Wednesday to arm the Department of Veterans Affairs, exclusively among federal departments, with tougher employee “accountability” tools to punish...
View ArticleReadiness Worries Deepened by Hill Ineptitude on Budgets
It’s a wasteful misstep caused again by bitter partisanship, weak leaders and alarming apathy over the harm being done to military readiness, say senators on the armed services committee.
View ArticleVA Chief Sees Congress Letting Politics Slow Veteran Reforms
Military Update: “I was confirmed 97-to-0,” says VA Secretary Bob McDonald, recalling the Senate vote in July 2014 on his nomination to lead 360,000 VA...
View ArticleMiller V. McDonald: Clash of Agendas and Legacies for Vets
Military Update: Republican Rep. Jeff Miller, the soon-to-retire chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, is a former deputy sheriff of Gilchrist County, Fla., who...
View ArticleNew Military E-Health Record System to Begin at Fairchild
Congressional overseers of the long-awaited e-health record system aren’t upset by the missed December start at Fairchild, or by a rescheduling of e-health record launches at three larger base...
View ArticleMore Arrests Made in TRICARE Rx Kickback Scheme
Military Update – TRICARE Rx Chief: Compound Drug Screen Works; More Arrests Made Federal agents last Friday charged 10 more defendants with fraud and conspiracy...
View ArticleFamilies, Providers Await Hill Vote on TRICARE Autism Fees
Military Update: Kelly Bridgeforth and her husband Kevin, both Air Force retirees, are waiting anxiously for Congress to reconvene after Election Day and finish work...
View ArticleSweetheart Deal Seen Driving Product Mix in Commissaries
After completing a $1.5 million study of commissaries in 2015, Boston Consulting Group (BCG) landed several no-bid contracts from Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) to implement the study’s vision of...
View ArticleTrump’s VA Chief to Decide on New Agent Orange Ailments
Military Update: Bob McDonald won’t be the VA secretary to decide if thousands more Vietnam War veterans – those with bladder cancer, high blood pressure,...
View ArticleCommissary Suppliers Irate Over New DeCA Price Demands
Military Update: Product buyers for the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) are becoming very unpopular with many grocery suppliers. The buyers are confronting them with canned...
View ArticleDeCA: We’ll Add Private Labels But Sustain Brand Savings
Military Update: Commissary shoppers will see no drop in savings on brand name items even as the Defense Commissary Agency begins to offer better prices...
View ArticleCongress Pushes Larger Pay Raise, Rejects Further Compensation Cuts
Military Update: Conferees Reject More Pruning of Military Compensation House armed services committee conferees, in negotiating a final fiscal 2017 defense authorization bill, succeeded in...
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