Tagged: military

You can almost feel the parental summer panic start to kick in. 

School is almost out.

And there are only so many times you can take the kids to the pool before you all go insane.

Those long, hot days can be especially tough for military families, who may only have one parent at home.

That's why 50 Michigan museums are opening their doors, free of charge, to active military personnel and their families this summer.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., says we are failing when it comes to providing health care to those who have served in the military:

"Our nation has a moral obligation to provide quality health care to the men and women who put on our nations uniform and are injured and wounded fighting our nations wars… Our responsibility ends only when the wounds are healed…I am sad to say that we as a nation are not meeting this obligation."

He made these remarks in early April during an opening statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee Joint Hearing on Department of Defense and Veteran Affairs.

Back in August of 2012, we reported on the long wait time for veterans filing disability claims.

At the time of our report, veterans in our area were waiting an average of 319 days for a decision from the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs on their disability claims. The national average was 257 days.

Unfortunately, there have been few improvements.

Today, the average wait time in our area is 321 days, a slight increase since 2011. And according to a Missouri Watchdog report published last week, the national average has increased to 290 days.

This map shows the number of backlogged VA claims around the country. The Center for Investigative Reporting updates the map every Monday to show changes in each office's pending claims.

Organizers are hoping to build a World War II memorial in Michigan.

The Michigan World War II Legacy Memorial would be built in Royal Oak's Memorial Park along Woodward Avenue.

The memorial would honor Michigan's role in building what FDR called the "Arsenal of Democracy" and the men and women who served. From the group's website:

That's money military contractors in Michigan have received in the last week. Most of the money is coming from foreign governments, according to Crain's Detroit Business:

Sterling Heights-based General Dynamics Land Systems won a $37.6 million single-bid modification to a previous contract to fund a coproduction effort on the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank in Egypt.

The company has had an agreement with the Egyptian government dating back to the early 1990s for the M1A1, which generally involves some component production in the U.S. and final vehicle assembly in that country.

Including Egypt, other Michigan related contracts are coming from Iraq and Israel, according to Crain's.

While politicians argue over who knew what and when with regard to the FBI's investigation into CIA Director David Petraeus' extra-marital affair, many insiders are speculating over who his replacement will be.

Today, the chief Washington correspondent for the New York Times David Sanger wrote about possible replacements.

And way down at the bottom of his article, Sanger lists Michigan Congressman Mike Rogers (R-8th District) as a possible replacement:

Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan, is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a former F.B.I. official and could sail through confirmation hearings and give a bipartisan air to the administration’s efforts, as Mr. Petraeus did.

A Rogers appointment seems less likely next to names like Michael J. Morell, Mr. Petraeus' deputy, and retired C.I.A. operative John O. Brennan.

MLive said Rogers' office had no immediate comment.

In the meantime, Congressman Mike Rogers is one of those on the Capitol working to find out why members were not briefed on the FBI's investigation. From the NYTimes:

A spokesman for Representative Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican who heads the House Intelligence Committee, said the lawmaker had summoned Sean Joyce, the F.B.I.’s deputy director, and Michael J. Morrell, the deputy C.I.A. director, for closed briefings on Wednesday about the investigation.

After a year's deployment in Afghanistan, 600 members of Michigan's National Guard are coming home. They'll join the ranks of 19,00 local Guardsmen and women who’ve served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But this particular unit will soon embark on a new mission. And this time, they're bringing their families.

For 3 years, the veterans, their spouses, and children will be part of a Michigan State University study on how families cope with life after combat.

We've written before about the "unfinished business" of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan... caring for thousands of vets who are coming home after multiple tours with symptoms of PTSD or other disabilities.

Vets seeking benefits to help with their disabilities can face long wait times.

Thanks to a new analysis released today by the Center for Investigative Reporting, we can get a sense for how long those wait times are.