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Jeremy Wolfsteller’s office is located next to the polytrauma unit at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System. As a Minneapolis American Legion department service officer and an advocate for the Legion’s Operation Comfort Warriors (OCW) program, Wolfsteller sees the needs of veterans who come and go from the unit and how OCW can aid in their recovery. That’s how he met wounded Afghanistan veteran Kyle Anderson and made his wish for an e-reader program possible through an OCW grant. OCW recently paid for the startup cost and a yearlong membership to Bookshare, which is an online library of more than 530,000 books for “people with print disabilities.” Through Bookshare, Anderson, who suffers from a severe traumatic brain injury that has impaired his speech and reading, will be able to read in a variety of ways. For example, he will be able to hear and see highlighted words on screen; read with enlarged fonts; listen to books with text-to-speech voices; and more. “This is life-changing for Kyle,” Wolfsteller said. “He was so happy and his care team is now able to advance his reading capabilities and work with him.” As a service officer and wounded Iraq veteran, Wolfsteller understands firsthand the importance of comfort and reahabilitation items to aid in a servicemember's recovery. This individual OCW grant is one of many he has helped make possible for wounded veterans receiving care at the Minneapolis VA. "I let everyone at the hospital know that the Legion is here, providing these programs, services and advocacy," he said.

Newswise — While military ethics have been studied for more than 2,000 years, the field has lacked a common entry point for professional training—until now. Case Western Reserve University has established the nation’s first graduate program in the field. The Master of Arts (M.A.) in Military Ethics program formalizes a field of study that contends with questions of how advancing military technologies relate to the common humanity of both enemy and ally. While the study of military ethics has long supported humanitarian goals, such as preventing unjust wars, war crimes, and other atrocities, students in the program will be trained in emerging areas of ethical consideration, such as cyberwarfare, human enhancement, and the use of new weaponry, including unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly called “drones.” Case Western Reserve is currently accepting applications for classes that begin fall semester of 2017. The deadline to apply for full consideration for fall admission is April 10, 2017; however, applications will continue to be accepted on an ongoing basis for rolling admission. Designed to prepare students for career advancement or teaching in military ethics, law, foreign affairs, veterans affairs and other fields, the program is taught by faculty experts in an array of topics, including international relations, public policy, journalism, history and others. “There are a wealth of opportunities in military ethics and a need for more people trained to research and make tough policy decisions on complex ethical questions that have significant implications all over the world,” said Shannon E. French, leader of the program, the Inamori Professor in Ethics at Case Western Reserve, and director of its Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence. “Embracing and leveraging our ethical values in meaningful ways helps us establish allies and work for peace and sets a powerful example,” said French, also a co-associate editor of the Journal of Military Ethics and the General Hugh Shelton Distinguished Visiting Chair in Ethics with the U.S. Army. Program basics • Students can complete the degree in one year or at their own pace. • Graduates will earn a specialized degree that stands alone, pairs with a law or other advanced degree or serves as a stepping stone to a PhD program. • The curriculum is designed for students seeking to enter government, policy and foreign affairs fields, including humanities and social sciences undergraduates; mid-rank military officers who often pursue a graduate degree to achieve senior rank; military chaplains, who are tasked with being ethical advisors to those in command; as well as law students and professional students whose future careers may intersect with military issues. • Coursework includes military ethics, international and humanitarian law, international relations, military bioethics, human rights, comparative religion and wartime journalism. • This program received approval of the Chancellor’s Committee for Graduate Studies in January 2017 and has been approved by the Ohio Department of Higher Education. • Case Western Reserve recently became the host institution for the International Society for Military Ethics (ISME). • French, author of The Code of the Warrior: Exploring Warrior Values, Past and Present, taught for 11 years as an associate professor of philosophy at the United States Naval Academy and served as associate chair of the Department of Leadership, Ethics, and Law. • The degree program is based in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Philosophy and is offered in partnership with the School of Law, College of Arts and Sciences’ Departments of Art History and Art, Classics, Political Science and Religious Studies, and the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence.

FINDINGSU.S. military veterans who are being treated for schizophrenia are much less likely to drink any alcohol than the general population. However, they are equally likely to misuse alcohol. And when they do misuse alcohol, it leads to worsening of their symptoms, according to a new study led by Dr. Alexander Young, a psychiatry professor at UCLA. BACKGROUNDAlcohol and drug use disorders are believed to have substantial negative effects on outcomes in people with schizophrenia. However, it has not been possible to know the extent of this problem, because diagnoses and details regarding substance use are typically not documented in people’s medical records, previous research shows. Prior studies of veterans with serious mental illness have found that heavy drinking prevents them from sticking to prescribed medication regimens. Efforts to reduce alcohol misuse and better ensure that veterans with schizophrenia take their medications would improve outcomes for them and could reduce the incidence of hospitalization. METHODResearchers randomly selected 801 veterans undergoing treatment for schizophrenia at Veterans Health Administration medical centers in California, New York, Louisiana and Texas. Trained assessors conducted confidential interviews to collect information about their psychiatric symptoms, how well they followed their prescription regimens, alcohol and illicit drug use, quality of life, and use of treatment services. At these clinics, only 23 percent of those interviewed said that they drank any alcohol in the previous 30 days. Fifteen percent reported some use and 7 percent reported drinking alcohol to intoxication, or “misuse.” In contrast, 56 percent of the general population report drinking in the past month, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The veterans in the study who misused alcohol were less likely to take their medications as prescribed, more likely to use other drugs and had worse quality of life. Both alcohol users and misusers, compared with those who didn’t drink at all, reported less use of general medical, mental health and housing services. Less use of services correlates with worse outcomes. IMPACTThe findings indicate there is no safe level of alcohol use for people with schizophrenia, suggesting that clinicians should ask patients with schizophrenia about alcohol use or misuse and advise them about risks. AUTHORSThe study’s authors are Young and Amy Cohen, both in the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA; and Eric Pedersen and Wenjing Huang of the RAND Corporation. JOURNALThe study was published in the journal Psychological Services. FUNDINGThis study was supported by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Health Services Research and Development Service Quality Enhancement Research Initiative, and VA Desert Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center. SEE ORIGINAL STUDY

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) -- Environmental authorities in Massachusetts are donating lobsters seized from an illegal harvest to homeless veterans. Massachusetts Environmental Police say they found the lobsters during an inspection of an offshore trawler in New Bedford on Sunday. Police say they determined the vessel had exceeded the legal limit of 500 for lobsters caught outside state waters. Police say the crustaceans were caught on Georges Bank. They weren't returned to the ocean because returning lobsters to different water conditions is potentially fatal. Instead, they were donated to the Veterans Transition House in New Bedford. The Veterans Transition House serves homeless and at-risk veterans and their families in southeastern Massachusetts.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- The push to end homelessness among veterans would suffer without the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, which is up for elimination under President Donald Trump's proposed budget, nonprofits and local officials say. The council coordinates the efforts of 19 federal agencies that play a role in preventing and ending homelessness among all Americans. But the strides made with veterans - for whom homelessness has been effectively ended in three states and dozens of communities amid a concerted effort - make the proposed cuts particularly upsetting to advocates. Homeless advocates in any given state consult the council, whose annual budget is about $3.5 million, on which strategies are working elsewhere as they seek to house veterans. They worry momentum will slow. "We've learned how to end homelessness," said Nonie Brennan, chief executive of the nonprofit All Chicago. "It would be a tremendous shame if we were not able to continue to implement these strategies in our communities across the country." Adding to the ire and confusion, the budget proposal also says the Trump administration will support Department of Veterans Affairs programs for homeless and at-risk veterans and their families, but doesn't elaborate. Trump, who promised on the campaign trail to support veterans, wants to give the VA a 6 percent increase. Still, the federal government needs someone to make sure housing resources are well spent and to look across agencies for solutions instead of just down at their own, advocates say. "Without coordination and oversight and giving some thought to how the money should best be spent, the money may not go to the people who need it most," said Hank Hughes, of the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, said Tuesday that he and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, have introduced legislation to prevent the council from being shuttered. They say it takes a collaborative, comprehensive approach to reducing and preventing homelessness. The White House's $1.15 trillion plan, released this month, emphasizes military and other security-related spending and slashes many domestic programs. The proposal is the first step in a lengthy process that requires congressional approval. Proponents of small government praised it. The interagency council, created during President Ronald Reagan's administration, is one of 19 independent agencies for which Trump proposed eliminating funding. "The federal government needs to prioritize what it does," said Dan Holler at Heritage Action for America, the advocacy arm of the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation. It's the community groups and local officials who know best how to help homeless people and other underserved groups in their area, he added. The White House Office of Management and Budget didn't respond to a question about the rationale for eliminating the council. Navy veteran Stephen Matthews, 55, doesn't want to see a system changed that has helped him and many others. "There are other programs they could cut. We don't need to go to Mars," he said, referring to legislation Trump signed last week adding human exploration of the red planet to NASA's mission. "Don't eliminate these programs that are helping people." Matthews was homeless last year and now uses a federal rental assistance voucher to help pay for his apartment in Rhode Island. Some advocates fear that in addition to the loss of the council, fewer rental assistance vouchers will be available for the homeless. The budget proposes a 13.2 percent cut to the Housing and Urban Development Department. The number of homeless veterans nationwide is down 47 percent, or about 35,000 people, since 2010, but there are roughly 40,000 more, HUD said in August. Homelessness among veterans is effectively ended in Virginia, Connecticut and Delaware and in about 40 communities, according to the council, including in New Jersey's most populous county. "We would not have dared to attempt such a bold goal without their leadership," said Julia Orlando, director of the Housing, Health and Human Services Center in Bergen County. The council ensures agencies aren't duplicating spending and efforts, or spending money at cross-purposes, and it serves as a clear way into the federal process for communities tackling the issue, said Jake Maguire, spokesman for the nonprofit Community Solutions, which does similar work to tackle homelessness. He's hopeful the president, a businessman, will learn more about the council and keep it. "I think anyone who has worked in business knows that if you have 19 people working on something," he said, "you need someone coordinating that work."   BY JENNIFER MCDERMOTTASSOCIATED PRESS

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) -- A 92-year-old North Carolina man has finally received the Purple Heart he earned more than 70 years ago while fighting in Belgium during World War II. Oscar Davis Jr. was a private assigned as a radio telephone operator when he was knocked down by a large piece of shrapnel during the Battle of the Bulge, according to a Fayetteville Observer report (http://bit.ly/2o6jJiD). The radio on Davis' back protected him, but the German artillery barrage knocked down a tree that fell on Davis, injuring his spine. He was paralyzed from the waist down for three weeks and ultimately rejoined his unit in Germany. Davis was told long ago that he would receive the honor, but the award paperwork was never signed. Decades later, he smiled from ear to ear as Lt. Col. Marcus Wright leaned down to pin the Purple Heart to his jacket on Saturday. "This has been some day," Davis said. "I couldn't believe all this was going to happen. I just want to thank the Lord." Friends, family and more than two dozen soldiers with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, attended the ceremony. Wright, commander of the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, presided over the event. Davis belonged to the same regiment. The ceremony was the culmination of nearly two years of work by the Veterans Legacy Foundation, a Harnett County-based volunteer organization that has helped more than 100 veterans receive military awards owed to them. John Elskamp, executive director of the foundation, said volunteers scoured an archive of war reports to find proof of Davis' injuries. The Purple Heart was the latest medal the group recovered for Davis. In late 2015, the group helped the World War II veteran to receive the Bronze Star and other medals that were awarded to him in a ceremony at the U.S. Army Airborne & Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville. Capt. Andrew Hammack, commander of A Company, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, said Davis is "still one of us." "He's just not currently reporting for duty," Hammack said. ---

Newswise — Bethesda, Md. – Nearly 50 percent of recently-deployed Soldiers who sustained a mild traumatic brain injury reported post-concussive symptoms – like headaches, sleep disturbance, and forgetfulness – three months after returning from deployment, according to a study published March 17 in Neurology by researchers at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU), and the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center. A mild traumatic brain injury, also referred to as mTBI or concussion, is the most prevalent form of brain injury among service members returning from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. To better understand the prevalence and prognosis of symptoms associated with this common deployment-related injury, the team of researchers reviewed data from about 1,500 Soldiers who had been non-medically evacuated from Afghanistan and Iraq to two military bases between 2009 and 2014 – all of whom were screened for mTBI. Of those who were found to have sustained mTBI, about half (47%) reported at least one severe or very severe post-concussive symptom three months post-deployment. The most commonly reported symptoms were sleep problems, forgetfulness, irritability, headaches, and trouble concentrating. The large, longitudinal study, “Epidemiology and Prognosis of mTBI in Returning Soldiers: A Cohort Study,” found that these Soldiers were nearly twice as likely as soldiers without a recent mTBI to report one or more post-concussive symptom, at their three-month follow up. They were also nearly twice as likely as other soldiers to report receiving rehabilitative services. Most soldiers in the study also reported having experienced one or more TBI before their most recent deployment – either before joining the military or during an earlier deployment, according to the researchers. Consistent with prior research, this study also found many of these soldiers with mTBI reported concurrent health issues, such as post-traumatic stress and bodily pain in locations other than the head or neck, and these factors were also related to the later likelihood of reporting post-concussive symptoms. “We hope that by better defining the prevalence and prognosis of the broad array of symptoms associated with deployment-related mTBI, we can understand the extent of these problems and whether they persist or improve over time, not to mention the opportunity to offer our service members a better understanding of this injury,” according to study author Dr. Ann Scher, a professor in USU’s Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics Department. Dr. Karen Schwab, first author and researcher with the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center and USU affiliated faculty member, added, “These findings can also lead to more focused medical follow-up after concussion, and to further research on the outcomes of military concussion.” The study was funded by the congressionally-mandated Directed Medical Research Programs with additional support provided by USU’s Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Defense Medical Research and Development Program, and the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center. USU researchers collaborated with colleagues at the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Silver Spring, Md., Evans Army Community Hospital, in Fort Carson, Colo., Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center, Denver, Colo., the University of Colorado, and the Intrepid Spirit Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Fort Bragg, N.C. Complete citation: Karen Schwab, Heidi Terrio, Lisa A. Brenner, Rene Pazdan, Henry Mcmillan, Margaret MacDonald, Sidney Hinds, Ann I Scher, Prognosis of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Soldiers Deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan: The Warrior Strong Longitudinal Study, Neurology, in press # # # About the Uniformed Services University of the Health SciencesThe Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, founded by an act of Congress in 1972, is the nation’s federal health sciences university and the academic heart of the Military Health System. USU students are primarily active duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who receive specialized education in tropical and infectious diseases, TBI and PTSD, disaster response and humanitarian assistance, global health, and acute trauma care. A large percentage of the university’s more than 5,500 physician and 1,000 advanced practice nursing alumni are supporting operations around the world, offering their leadership and expertise. USU also has graduate programs in biomedical sciences and public health committed to excellence in research, and in oral biology. The University’s research program covers a wide range of clinical and other topics important to both the military and public health. For more information about USU and its programs, visit www.usuhs.edu.

Counties in southern U.S. states face highest risk of Zika infections Newswise — Researchers examined where and how transmission of Zika virus is most likely to occur in the contiguous United States. They evaluated two types of transmission risk: sexually and via Aedes aegypti mosquito bites. They looked at predictors of sexually transmitted infections as a surrogate for unprotected sexual activity, and analyzed the demographic distribution of the A. aegypti mosquito across 3,108 counties in the U.S. Results found 507 counties that had the highest risk of virus exposure via mosquito bites or unprotected sexual activity. The counties were concentrated in southern states extending northward along the Atlantic coast and southern California, with the highest predicted risk in Mississippi counties. “Identifying areas with higher transmission risk can inform prevention strategies and vector control, and assist in planning for diagnosis and treatment,” the authors explained. [“Potential High-Risk Areas for Zika Virus Transmission in the Contiguous United States.” Contact: Enbal Shacham, PhD, Med, Department of Behavioral Science and Health Education, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, Missouri.] Government pays 40 percent of costs for initial hospitalization for firearm injuries Researchers analyzed the costs associated with initial hospitalizations for firearm-related injuries in the U.S. They used the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Nationwide Inpatient Sample to identify patients admitted for firearm-related injuries from 2006 to 2014. They converted charges from hospitalization to costs, adjusting based on inflation to 2014 dollars. Results showed that the total cost for initial inpatient hospitalization for firearm-related injuries was $6.61 billion. The largest proportion of costs was for patients with governmental insurance coverage, totaling $2.70 billion, and was divided between Medicaid and Medicare. Self-pay individuals accounted for $1.56 billion in costs. “From 2006 to 2014, the cost of initial hospitalizations for firearm-related injuries averaged $734.6 million per year. Medicaid paid one-third and self-pay patients one quarter of the financial burden,” the authors explained. “These figures substantially underestimate true health care costs. Firearm-related injuries are costly to the U.S. health care system and are particularly burdensome to government insurance and the self-paying poor.” [“Costs and Financial Burden of Initial Hospitalizations for Firearm Injuries in the United States, 2006–2014.” Contact: Sarabeth A. Spitzer, Stanford Division of General Surgery, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California.] Sexual assault victimization of women in U.S. Army linked to negative mental health and career outcomes Researchers examined associations of administratively recorded sexual assault victimization among women in the U.S. Army during their military service, with subsequent mental health and negative career outcomes. They used data from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Service members to match all 4,238 female regular Army soldiers with administratively recorded sexual assault victimization from 2004 to 2009. They also analyzed associations of victimization with administratively recorded mental health treatment, suicide attempt and Army career outcomes over the subsequent 12 months. Results found that women with administratively recorded sexual assault had significantly elevated odds of subsequent mental health treatment, posttraumatic stress disorder treatment, suicide attempt, demotion and attrition. “Sexual assault victimization is associated with considerable suffering and likely decreased force readiness,” the authors explained. [“Sexual Assault Victimization and Mental Health Treatment, Suicide Attempts, and Career Outcomes Among Women in the US Army.” Contact: Ronald C. Kessler, PhD, Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.] Find a full list of AJPH research papers to be published online on March 21, 2017, at 4 p.m. EDT below:• Potential High-Risk Areas for Zika Virus Transmission in the Contiguous United States• Estimating the Proportion of Childhood Cancer Cases and Costs Attributable to the Environment in California • Costs and Financial Burden of Initial Hospitalizations for Firearm Injuries in the United States, 2006–2014• Sexual Assault Victimization and Mental Health Treatment, Suicide Attempts, and Career Outcomes Among Women in the US Army• Sales of Nicotine-Containing Electronic Cigarette Products: United States, 2015• Disability Items From the Current Population Survey (2008–2015) and Permanent Versus Temporary Disability Status• Injury Mortality in Individuals With Autism• Supply-Side Disruption in Cocaine Production Associated With Cocaine-Related Maternal and Child Health Outcomes in the United States• Jail Booking as an Occasion for HIV Care Reengagement: A Surveillance-Based Study• Universal Mandatory Reporting Policies and the Odds of Identifying Child Physical Abuse• State-Level Progress in Reducing the Black–White Infant Mortality Gap, United States, 1999–2013• Scaling Up a Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Program in Rural Bangladesh: The Role of Program Implementation• Social and Built Environmental Correlates of Predicted Blood Lead Levels in the Flint Water Crisis• Physical, Mental, and Financial Impacts From Drought in Two California Counties, 2015 • The Affordable Care Act, Insurance Coverage, and Health Care Utilization of Previously Incarcerated Young Men: 2008–2015• Video-Based Grocery Shopping Intervention Effect on Purchasing Behaviors Among Latina Shoppers The articles above will be published online March 21, 2017, at 4 p.m. EDT by AJPH under “First Look.” “First Look” articles have undergone peer review, copyediting and approval by authors but have not yet been printed to paper or posted online by issue. AJPH is published by the American Public Health Association, and is available at www.ajph.org. Complimentary online access to the Journal is available to credentialed members of the media. Address inquiries to Mandi Yohn at APHA, 202-777-2509, or email her. A single print issue of the Journal is available for $35 from the Journal’s Subscriptions Department. If you are not a member of the press, a member of APHA or a subscriber, online single issue access is $30, and online single article access is $22 at www.ajph.org. For direct customer service, call 202-777-2516, or email us. To stay up-to-date on the latest in public health research, sign up for new content email alerts. ###

Susie Brodeur was living in Alaska with her 3- and 7-year old children when her husband, Air Force Maj. David Brodeur, was killed in an insider attack during a 2011 deployment to Afghanistan. After Major Brodeur's death, Susie moved her family to her home state of Colorado, away from their military network in Alaska. She saved up to buy a house and has been raising her children as a single parent ever since. Money can be tight, she says. With her children still coping with their dad's death, Brodeur is careful not to work too many hours. But the loss of her husband's income was a big adjustment, she says. “It was scary not knowing where that next dollar [was] going to come from,” Brodeur says. Military spouses who lose a servicemember on active duty and some spouses of retirees who die from service-connected illnesses or injuries receive a monthly benefit payment called Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) from the VA. (The tax-free payment comes out to about $1,258 per month.) Spouses also can receive Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) annuity payments if their servicemember opted into the voluntary program at retirement, and spouses whose servicemember died while on active duty automatically receive SBP annuity payments.  But current law requires every dollar spouses receive in DIC benefits be deducted from their SBP annuity payment. That offset leaves most surviving spouses losing out on about $15,000 annually, in what's often referred to as the “widows tax.”  “The fact that the government is withholding that from us is really sad,” Brodeur says. “It really surprises me that they're not taking care of all families as well as they possibly can.” After several years of advocacy from MOAA and The Military Coalition, Congress agreed and authorized a special allowance in 2008, which helps survivors recoup a portion of the offset. That Special Survivor Indemnity Allowance (SSIA) serves as a rebate, giving spouses of the fallen an additional $310 per month - equal to about 25 percent of what they lose from the SBP/DIC offset. Now the future of that allowance is at risk too, since it's set to expire at the end of May 2018. Losing SSIA would leave families like Brodeur's down $3,720 annually. MOAA urges lawmakers to take another look at the widows tax. Congress should end the SBP/DIC offset entirely - or at least extend and increase the SSIA to help make up the difference, says Col. Dan Merry, USAF (Ret), MOAA's vice president of Government Relations.  “The SBP/DIC offset is grossly unfair and should be repealed,” Merry says. “When military service causes the death of the servicemember, VA indemnity pay [DIC] should be paid in addition to the SBP annuity - not subtracted from it.”    An unfair burden Like Brodeur, Traci Voelke is one of more than 60,000 military spouses who lose a portion of their SBP annuity each month. When Voelke's husband, Army Maj. Paul Voelke, died in a 2012 vehicle accident in Afghanistan, her family lost not only a spouse and a father, but also their financial security. “I lost my husband in the middle of his career, along with his income and earning potential,” she says. “Without the additional SBP, my monthly payments aren't even half of what he was earning.” The VA created DIC in the 1950s so surviving spouses would be compensated for economic losses they suffered as a result of a veteran's death. About two decades later, DoD established SBP to ensure surviving dependents of military personnel who died in retirement would continue to have a reasonable income level.  Retirees can purchase SBP so their spouses continue getting a portion of their retirement after their death. But the payment often is canceled out by DIC, says Mary Craven, the wife of an Air Force officer who died from a service-connected illness in 1978. “Why have two programs if one wipes out the other?” she asks. “The service caused his death. The service should pay extra for that, rather than cancelling part of the insurance he bought for me.” On the active duty side, SBP serves as an income supplement for surviving spouses. That's important, says Voelke, because military spouses often are on the move, and many don't have steady careers. “I was never able to build up my own pension in an organization long enough,” Voelke says. “My husband's pension is what we had relied upon for our retirement.” Spouses like Brodeur, Voelke, and Craven often are shocked to learn their SBP annuities will be reduced by any money they receive from DIC. Six years after her husband's death, Brodeur's children now are 9 and 13. With no plans to remarry, Brodeur says she needs to be able to support not only her children but herself far into the future. “I've been alone now for six years,” Brodeur says. “I have to do the job of two people and then some. It's not easy. When the government takes away the money from the lone survivor - the spouse - it really hurts.” Those who gave all   Before Voelke's husband died, the U.S. Military Academy grad penned an op-ed in a local newspaper on Veterans Day about why he wanted to be an Army officer. He considered himself fortunate to serve alongside soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. “They are people who live selfless service,” Paul Voelke wrote. “They ask their families to sacrifice - spouses who have to put down roots every few years in a new place, make new friends, [and] learn new school systems and often do it alone.” Brodeur says service to country was equally important to her husband, who graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. “He was beyond the word 'patriotic,' ” she says. Years after losing their husbands, Brodeur and Voelke continue to sacrifice. They've moved their families across the country alone and have faced tough choices as single parents about how to raise their children. Brodeur has put off buying a new family car or taking care of certain home repairs since her husband died. She also has tapped into her savings account to cover some of her kids' education expenses. “Money cannot buy happiness, but it can grant [my kids] opportunities to enjoy themselves, to wear nicer clothes, to be able to take vacations, and just be [kids],” Brodeur says. Repealing the SBP/DIC offset “would take a little bit of the stress away. I would ask [lawmakers] to stop and look at the families,” Brodeur says. “Especially the young ones who have young children - think about what their future will be like after they lose a parent.” Voelke says she is certain the SBP/DIC offset is an oversight, that it's not what Congress intended for the families of fallen military personnel. “Following the advice of Abraham Lincoln 'to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan,' we need to protect the families of those who gave all,” Voelke says. By: Gina Harkins 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. proudly presented a $100,000 donation today to the World War I Centennial Commission in support of the upcoming “Centennial Commemoration of the U.S. Entry into World War I” event on April 6. The donation represents the VFW’s long-standing dedication to ensuring the service and sacrifice of America’s service men and women are never forgotten.  “Since our founding in 1899, the VFW has proudly supported and welcomed home every generation of servicemen and women who served overseas, to include tens of thousands of Great War veterans who played an integral part in shaping and leading our great organization for decades to come,” said VFW National Commander Brian Duffy. “We are proud to be a presenting sponsor of this commemoration ceremony, which fittingly takes place at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in the heart of Kansas City, just blocks from the VFW’s national headquarters.” Today’s presentation, led by Debra Anderson, VFW quartermaster general and commissioner with the World War I Centennial Commission, also served to reinforce the collective support the VFW has pledged for the World War I Centennial Commemoration.  “For nearly 118 years, the VFW has worked to ensure all who protect our country receive the recognition they deserve,” said Anderson. “As a World War I Commemorative Partner, the VFW and its network of 1.7 million VFW and Auxiliary members are dedicated to preserving the history and importance of the Great War.” The April 6 event will tell the compelling story surrounding America’s entry into World War I a century ago, and is being held at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City, Mo. More information on WWI centennial events can be found at ww1cc.org/events.  Photo caption: VFW Quartermaster General Debra Anderson (center) presents a $100,000 check to President and CEO of the National WWI Museum and Memorial Dr. Matt Naylor (left), and WWI Centennial Commissioner Dr. Monique Seefried (right) during today’s press event.