Monday, August 16, 2010
By Greg Block, SDSU Newsletter
SDSU offers critical programs and services for veterans and active-duty military.
The door is wide open—literally—at the circular-fronted building on the southwest corner of Fraternity Row. In the bright, clean lounge, the television broadcasts FOX News. One young man studies quietly while another wanders into the kitchen for a snack. As more students arrive, they spill outside into the shady courtyard, where a giant American flag drapes part of the wall. This is Veteran’s House at San Diego State University, the country’s first university residence hall for student veterans. With its perpetually open door and casual ambiance, the former fraternity house has become a popular meeting place for SDSU’s growing community of student veterans and future veterans.
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is a local nonprofit organization that focuses on computer reuse. It is partnering with NC National Guard State Family Programs to make refurbished PCs available to
NCNG military families at no cost!
These Internet-ready computer systems include:
Desktop or tower PC
1 GHz or greater
RAM of 512 Mb or higher
Hard drive of 40 GB or higher
Mouse
Keyboard
CRT Monitor
Windows XP Professional operating system
For more details, contact contact Kristi Wagner,
NCNG Child & Youth Assistant at 1-800-621-4136 ext
8820, line 23 or email kristi.wagner@us.army.mil
More details on the Purple Elephant can be found at
www.PurpleElephant.org
By Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael J. Carden, American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2010 – The Veterans Affairs Department is making great strides in its efforts to reduce the backlog of veterans’ claims, VA Secretary Eric K. Shinseki today told thousands of veterans attending the 92nd Annual American Legion National Convention in Milwaukee.
“We intend to break the back of the backlog this year,” Shinseki said. The average time taken to process claims in VA is about 160 days. But by the end of the year no claim will take longer than 125 days, Shinseki said. VA doesn’t plan to stop once the claims are processed by that mark, he added. “Our goal is not an average,” Shinseki said. “It’s not just going to be faster; also better and more accurate. There’s nothing magical about 125 days, especially because when we get there, we’ll be looking at another target.”
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By Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service
RAMADI, Iraq, Sept. 1, 2010 – The war in Iraq is over and the United States is entering the final phase of the U.S. engagement in Iraq, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. U.S. combat operations have ceased, the secretary said. American forces are still participating in some counterinsurgency operations with the Iraqis, and they are training and advising and assisting Iraqi forces, but the United States is not at war in Iraq. Gates said a lot has changed in Iraq since he took office in December 2006. Then Iraq was in desperate straits. Ethnic violence – encouraged by al-Qaida in Iraq – threatened to tear the country apart. Sunni and Shia Arabs were at each other’s throats and both groups distrusted the Kurds. Insurgents were planting roadside bombs and driving car bombs into Iraqi and coalition forces.
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By Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2010 – President Barack Obama traveled today to Fort Bliss, Texas, to pay tribute to the post’s servicemembers, whose contributions and those of their comrades made possible tomorrow’s milestone marking the official end of combat operations in Iraq. “Congratulations, on a job well done,” Obama told about 130 1st Armored Division soldiers, accompanied their spouses, who’d recently returned from Iraq as they gathered in a post dining facility. “There has not been a single mission that has been assigned to all of you in which you have not performed with gallantry, with courage, with excellence,” the president said. “That is something the entire country understands.” Thanks to these efforts, he said, “Iraq has an opportunity to create a better future for itself and America is more secure.”
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