Growing Needs Of Veterans Identified

Wednesday, March 1, 2006

Veterans Identified (NAPSA)—Ingenious ways to honor our troops have been devised by one group of veterans. They know that veterans are increasingly facing medical problems, unemployment and, in some cases, homelessness, because of shortfalls in the services they were promised when they entered the national symposium for the ‘ O YOUNG VETERANS HOSTED BY AMVETS military. Fortunately, Congress and the federal government can eliminate many of these problems if they implement the recommendations outlined in “Voices for Action: A Focus on the Changing Needs of America’s Veterans.” The report was compiled by AMVETS and is the first document of its kind to address specific problemsin the nation’s veterans’ benefits system from the perspective of veterans. It’s based on input from hundreds of participants from across the country who attended the National Symposium for the Needs of Young Veterans. Among their recommendations are providing sufficient staffing and resourcesto: * eliminate the continuing backlog of disability claims develop an e-filing system to expedite claims processing * expedite the processing of education payments so that students receive payments within 35 days of submitting their claims. The report also calls for the developmentof a transferable skills matrix to help employers better understand how individuals with military training and related job skills can benefit their businesses. The “Voices for Action” report is available for download at www.veteransnationalsymposium.org.