The budget proposals — which outline the president’s priorities for next fiscal year — are expected to undergo significant revisions in coming months as lawmakers add and adjust to the spending outline.

That work usually begins in February, but delays in finalizing the fiscal year 2024 budget have pushed back that timeline. Congress is expected by the end of this month to finalize plans for Defense Department spending and other agencies which have been operating without a full-year fiscal plan since Oct. 1.

On Tuesday, Office of Management and Budget Director Shalanda Young is scheduled to testify before the Senate Budget Committee about the president’s budget plan.

Tuesday, March 12

Wednesday, March 13

Thursday, March 14

The deployment makes the North Chicago complex the final Defense Department medical site to begin using the new record system, and the first Veterans Affairs site in 21 months to launch the software. VA officials announced a halt to all new site deployments in April 2023 amid growing concerns about staff training and system readiness.

Whether the deployment to Lovell FHCC would go ahead as scheduled this month was in doubt just a few weeks ago, with lawmakers and advocates questioning whether enough fixes had been made to VA processes to ensure patient safety.

VA halts all new work on health records overhaul

But Neil Evans, acting director of VA’s Electronic Health Record Modernization Integration Office, told reporters this week he is confident that patient safety will be improved — not jeopardized — with the launch of the new records system.

“We believe that it is important for us to operate as an integrated system,” he said. “We want to make sure that we are integrated and functioning as a cohesive whole, and making sure this will work as expected. We’re not concerned about unleashing new issues.”

Since President Donald Trump announced plans to put VA and the Defense Department on the same health records system in 2017, the effort has been fraught with software problems, employee frustrations and patient safety concerns.

After deployment to just five sites, VA Secretary Denis McDonough halted all future installations at veterans medical centers until officials were confident that those issues had been corrected.

Several lawmakers have openly questioned whether VA’s $16 billion contract with Oracle Cerner will ever produce a workable system for the department. But McDonough and Oracle officials have insisted the problems can be fixed, given time and focus on the issue.

Meanwhile, the Defense Department’s version of the software — MHS Genesis — has largely been installed with only minor technical setbacks. In a statement, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Lester Martinez-Lopez said deployment of the system to Lovell FHCC “will help DOD and VA deliver on the promise made to those who serve our country to provide seamless care from their first day of active service to the transition to veteran status.”

The Illinois medical center is a joint VA and Defense Department facility which provides care to about 75,000 veterans, service members and family members annually. It is the only joint health care complex of its kind in the nation.

Evans said bringing all of those patients into a single records system will help with coordinating care and provide important insights for VA’s future software deployments.

But in the short term, the move will leave some VA patients in the North Chicago region who use multiple health care sites with two sets of medical records: one in the new Millennium software, and one in VA’s legacy VistA platform.

Those double records have led to problems in the past, particularly with fulfilling pharmacy orders. Evans said officials have made adjustments in recent months and will be closely monitoring the issue going forward.

Steve Nikoui, the invited guest of Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., was escorted out of the House chamber after screaming “Abbey Gate” and “Marines” multiple times at President Joe Biden as he spoke about violent crime in America. Biden glanced briefly at Nikoui before Capitol Hill security forced him out of the chamber.

The New York Times reported that Nikoui was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor for disrupting the speech.

Nikoui’s son, Lance Cpl. Kareem Nikoui, was one of 13 service members killed in the August 2021 attack, along with hundreds of Afghan civilians, when a suicide bomber attacked the Abbey Gate of Hamid Karzai International Airport. Defense Department officials blamed the attack on the Islamic State group’s Afghanistan affiliate.

I am honored to have Steve Nikoui as my guest to #SOTU. He is the father of LCpl. Kareem Nikoui, who was KIA due to Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.@JoeBiden may try to turn the page on Afghanistan after his incompetence cost American lives, but NOT ON MY WATCH. pic.twitter.com/wE3uKrMlEa

— Rep. Brian Mast (@RepBrianMast) March 7, 2024

Republican lawmakers and family members of several of the service members killed have blamed Biden for the deaths, insisting they came as a result of the rushed departure of U.S. military forces from the country.

Mast was one of several Republican lawmakers to invite family members of the deceased troops to the speech. The Republican lawmaker backed Nikoui’s outburst in a series of social media posts after the incident.

“For the last three SOTU speeches, Joe Biden REFUSED to say the names of the 13 U.S. [service members] who were killed by his disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal,” he wrote. “I couldn’t support this effort more.”

The Sergeant at Arms is holding my State of the Union guest for yelling at @POTUS in protest because his son was killed in action at the Abbey Gate due to Biden’s incompetence.

So much for the right to petition our government for the redress of grievances.

— Rep. Brian Mast (@RepBrianMast) March 8, 2024

Nikoui has been an outspoken critic of the administration in the past. Several Republican lawmakers also interrupted Biden during his address, though none were removed from the chamber.

The misdemeanor charge typically carries a small fine and no jail time.

David Duren, 48, was charged with wire fraud and federal program fraud charges, according to a Justice Department release. He is scheduled to appear in federal court later this week.

According to charging documents released by federal officials, Duren, also known as Dawud Hakiem Duren, allegedly filed fake invoices and reported fraudulent suicide prevention services through the E3 Foundation, a firm purportedly led by Dr. Michael Rapp that focused on treatment and training for at-risk vets.

Investigators said Duren fabricated Rapp and posed as a trained physician on phone calls and emails to VA officials. The scheme worked, and E3 was granted at least $50,000 through the Staff Sergeant Fox Suicide Prevention Grant.

“Duren and E3 Foundation also did not provide the services and products that he billed for,” Justice officials said. “Instead, Duren misused program funds on personal purchases, including landscaping, a Royal Caribbean cruise, and payments to models on OnlyFans.”

Duren faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and fines of up to $500,000 for the crimes. An attorney for Duren could not be reached for comment.

Congress has authorized $174 million for the Staff Sergeant Fox Suicide Prevention Grant program to expand veteran suicide prevention efforts to more local organizations. Grants of up to $750,000 can be given to community groups that provide new avenues for outreach and treatment to veterans.

Officials said Duren’s scheme was discovered when he tried to obtain $25,000 more in funding, raising questions about what services his company had provided.

“That’s money that could be getting my kids into baseball or basketball or dozens of other activities that could improve our quality of life,” Powers said. “We’ve got enough money to survive, so I’m lucky that way. But after the military, we shouldn’t just be thinking about surviving. It should be about helping veterans thrive.”

Powers traveled from Ohio to take part in a rally outside the Capitol Tuesday in support of the Major Richard Star Act, legislation that could provide a windfall of disability payouts to nearly 50,000 veterans. More than 100 advocates took part in the event, pushing for renewed action on the long-stalled bill.

Advocates say the money is intended to establish a more fair process for how the government handles compensation for individuals injured during their time in the ranks.

Fixing disability and retirement pay is Congress’ next big vets issue

“Our veterans cannot afford to continue losing their full earned military retirement pay because Congress insists on saving money at their expense,” said Tim Peters, an Air Force veteran and state adjutant for the Montana Veterans of Foreign Wars. “It’s objectively wrong.”

The legislation has been a top priority of veterans advocates for several years and passed out of the House Armed Services Committee last summer. But it has been stalled in the House and Senate since then, in part because of cost concerns, and in part because of general congressional inaction in recent months.

Named for an Army veteran who died from cancer complications in 2021, the measure deals with how veterans’ disability benefits are classified under federal statute.

Since 2004, veterans forced to retire early from the military because of injuries receive both their full military retirement pay and full disability benefits if they have a disability rating of at least 50%. The combined total of the two benefits can amount to several thousand dollars each month.

But veterans in the same situation who have a disability rating of less than 50% are subject to dollar-for-dollar offsets under federal rules. That means that officials subtract several hundred or several thousand dollars each month from individuals receiving the disability support, leaving a gap in their income.

Navy veteran Bob Carey, executive director of the National Defense Committee, said the practice costs him $723 a month.

“I’ve had my disability rating since 2005. So that’s $158,000 I’ve lost over the years because the federal government says, ‘You don’t need all that money,’” he said. “And we’re the only federal employees who have our retirement reduced that way.”

Members of The Military Coalition echoed that sentiment, pledging the efforts of their 35 organizations in getting the measure passed this year.

Sens. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, joined Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., at the rally in supporting the bill, but also acknowledged that more pressure will need to be put on their colleagues to force the measure to move forward.

“This is long past time,” Tester told the cheering crowd. “We’ve got 70 co-sponsors in the Senate … We need to make sure leadership puts this on the floor.”

Lawmakers said the most likely route for congressional passage is inclusion in the annual defense authorization bill, currently being crafted by the House and Senate Armed Services Committee. Advocates have about two months to convince members to do that.

If not, the measure could pass as a stand-alone bill, but congressional infighting has scuttled all but a few non-essential measures in recent months.

The ban was announced internally at VA medical facilities late last month in a memo from RimaAnn Nelson, the Veterans Health Administration’s top operations official. Employees were instructed to “promptly” remove any depictions of the famous photo and replace it with imagery deemed more appropriate.

“The photograph, which depicts a non-consensual act, is inconsistent with the VA’s no-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and assault,” the memo stated.

“To foster a more trauma-informed environment that promotes the psychological safety of our employees and the veterans we serve, photographs depicting the ‘V-J Day in Times Square’ should be removed from all Veterans Health Administration facilities.”

The memo garnered public scrutiny after it was posted online by the X account EndWokeness on Tuesday.

EXCLUSIVE:

The Department Of Veterans Affairs just BANNED the V-J Day kiss photo from all department facilities.

"To promote a culture of inclusivity and awareness… your cooperation is vital." pic.twitter.com/MZfNHbpV76

— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 5, 2024

Just hours later, McDonough took to social media to reverse the memo.

“This image is not banned from VA facilities — and we will keep it in VA facilities,” said a post from his official X account. Department officials echoed in a separate statement that “VA will NOT be banning this photo from VA facilities.”

Officials said the memo should not have been sent out and was formally rescinded on Tuesday. They did not provide details of whether senior leaders were consulted on the matter ahead of Nelson’s memo.

The photograph was taken by journalist Alfred Eisenstaedt in New York City on Aug. 14, 1945, as Americans celebrated Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II. Other journalists, including military reporters, also captured the moment.

Let me be clear: This image is not banned from VA facilities - and we will keep it in VA facilities. pic.twitter.com/dYSikLxHAJ

— Secretary Denis McDonough (@SecVetAffairs) March 5, 2024

The shot shows a U.S. sailor grabbing and kissing a woman he did not know amid a joyous, party atmosphere in Times Square. The identities of the individuals in the photo have been disputed over the years.

In her memo, Nelson noted that use of the photo in VA facilities “was initially intended to celebrate and commemorate the end of World War II and the triumphant return of American soldiers. However, perspectives on historical events and their representations evolve.”

Nelson wrote that the non-consensual nature of the kiss and “debates on consent and the appropriateness of celebrating such images” led to the decision. Senior leaders did not provide an explanation for the reversal.

VA officials could not provide details on how many facilities are currently displaying the photo and whether veterans have complained about use of the image.

McDonough has made veterans outreach and inclusion key priorities for the department over the last three years, including rewriting the VA motto with gender-neutral language.

The plan — which lawmakers aim to bring to the House and Senate floor later this week — would total more than $328 billion in appropriations for VA, another significant boost for a department which has seen steady growth for more than two decades.

In fiscal 2001, the entire VA budget amounted to $48 billion in spending. Ten years ago, that total was $153.9 billion, still less than half of the planned budget for this fiscal year.

In a statement, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said the funding plan “honors the sacred obligation we have to take care of our veterans when they come home by fully funding veterans’ medical care and benefits and delivering essential resources VA needs to operate.”

Veterans advocates push for another big boost in VA funding next year

The measure includes a provision that would prohibit VA officials from submitting veterans’ names to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System without a judge’s consent, a move that could block them from owning firearms.

House Democratic lawmakers have long opposed the provision, saying it unnecessarily limits federal workers’ ability to report potential threats. But House Republicans have worried that without the language, veterans who need assistance managing finances but pose no threats can be reported anyway, depriving them of their Second Amendment rights.

“No veteran should lose their constitutional right to bear arms simply because they need help managing their finances,” House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Mike Bost, D-Ill., said in a statement. “And if they are a danger to themselves or others, a judge should make that decision, not a VA bureaucrat.”

Even with the controversial provision, the budget plan — part of a $467.5 billion spending package covering six separate federal departments — is expected to pass through both chambers of Congress.

Much of the money set aside for VA has already been given to the department, through advance appropriations and a series of short-term spending bills passed over the past five months. The total VA budget also includes $20.3 billion for VA’s Toxic Exposures Fund, used to help cover costs associated with benefits expansion under the 2022 PACT Act. That measure provided new disability compensation to troops exposed to burn pit smoke, chemical contamination and other toxic exposure events during their military service.

The total is mostly in line with adjusted White House budget requests made over the last year. However, discretionary spending — non-mandated programs and initiatives — is nearly equal to last year’s levels, limiting expansion of some administration goals.

Lawmakers included in the budget plan a 17% increase in VA mental health programs, to $16.2 billion; a 15% increase in department homelessness prevention programs, to $3.1 billion; and an 18% increase in women veterans’ health programs, to $990 million.

The budget calls for $1.3 billion less in spending on the department’s electronic health records overhaul, funds that are not needed because of the ongoing pause in the effort.

The fiscal 2024 budget plan also includes about $308 billion in advance appropriations for fiscal 2025, ensuring that VA operations will continue mostly uninterrupted if Congress cannot settle on a budget plan for next year by their mandated deadline.

White House officials are expected to unveil their budget proposal for next fiscal year on March 11.

Although policies directly impacting American troops or their families are not expected to be featured in the national speech, Biden is expected to talk about continued U.S. military support for Ukraine in their war against Russia and U.S. assistance to Israel in their ongoing military operations in Gaza.

He is also expected to broach Congress’ ongoing budget impasse. Federal agencies — including the Defense Department — have been operating on short-term budget extensions for five months because of political fights over spending levels.

White House budget planners are expected to unveil their plans for the fiscal 2025 federal budget on March 11, but lawmakers are unlikely to have the fiscal 2024 year-long spending plan finalized before then. Last week, House and Senate members approved another short-term budget extension, with promises of finishing a full budget plan by the end of March.

Wednesday, March 6

Thursday, March 7

Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer, who has led the Texas Military Department for the last two years, stood in uniform beside Trump during a televised speech in Eagle Pass, Texas, after the former president’s visit to the southern U.S. border.

The move prompted criticism on social media for violating strict military rules regarding appearances in uniform at political rallies and events.

Suelzer served in the active duty Air Force for 10 years, and the Air Force Reserve for seven more, before joining the Texas Air National Guard. His current post is a political appointment, in contrast to nonpartisan Defense Department leadership roles.

Does the National Guard have to follow Pentagon orders? Sometimes.

National Guard Bureau officials confirmed Friday they have received multiple queries on Suelzer’s appearance with Trump and are reviewing the incident. Air Force officials referred all questions to the Texas Military Department, which has not issued any public statements on the matter and did not return requests for comment.

Defense Department officials, particularly in election years, periodically issue reminders that federal rules prohibit servicemembers from appearing in uniform at rallies, protests, or other political events where they could be appearing to be representing the armed services.

Troops are free to make campaign contributions or volunteer on behalf of a candidate, but they cannot undertake those activities in uniform or while on duty.

But Suelzer’s responsibility to adhere to those rules is less clear. Guard members in state active duty status aren’t subject to federal rules, even though they are allowed to wear their regular uniforms.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in 2021 to crack down on the number of migrants who attempt to cross the border into the U.S. Suelzer oversees that mission, and frequently issues statements on the work — and the political fights behind the policies — alongside the governor and other state officials.

Abbott was also on hand for Trump’s immigration event, and praised the former president for his border security policies.

Heidi Urben, a professor at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service who has studied military rules on politicking, said that while Suelzer’s appearance may not explicitly violate military rules, “it’s a violation of the military’s norm of nonpartisanship.”

She said the logic behind the regulations is to ensure that military members aren’t inferring official sponsorship or approval of a candidate or group’s views.

“From a practical standpoint, violating the norm is just as damaging as violating a rule,” she said. “Survey research shows that the American public doesn’t draw meaningful distinctions between active duty and retired generals, let alone distinguishing across components.”

“Incidents such as this only add to the public’s confusion, or worse, continue to give the impression that the military is a partisan actor.”

In 2020, then Defense Secretary Mark Esper issued a memo ahead of the presidential election warning all service members that “as public servants who have taken an oath to defend these principles, we uphold DOD’s longstanding tradition of remaining apolitical as we carry out our official responsibilities.”

Both Trump and President Joe Biden received criticism for the appearance of uniformed military personnel during their nominating conventions in 2020. Veterans running for Congress have received similar rebukes for using old service photos in their campaign materials without specific disclaimers, but those incidents rarely result in any real punishment.

Urben warned that military personnel need to be aware of events they attend and the potential public reaction from those appearances.

“Because politicians in both parties seem unable to resist the temptation to use the military as props or a backdrop during partisan speeches, it falls on military officials to exercise good judgment and uphold the spirit and intent of the norm of nonpartisanship,” she said.

In a letter sent to VA Secretary Denis McDonough on Thursday, the 56 representatives expressed concern over a December report from the department’s inspector general that outlined “shortcomings in the Veteran Health Administration’s treatment of survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault at VA facilities.”

Among their findings were a lack of sexual assault kits at VA medical sites, only 42% of facilities surveyed reported having the equipment on hand, and a lack of staff who knew how to use them, only 6% of facilities had certified personnel on hand.

Mental health outreach efforts need more focus on women vets: report

Investigators also expressed concern that despite department rules mandating mental health referrals be made at victims’ request within 24 hours of an assault report, staffers failed to document whether those resources were made available in more than half of the cases reviewed.

“For survivors of acute sexual assault, proper and thorough care, including psychological care, is imperative,” the lawmakers wrote.

The congressional letter comes just a few days after the release of a Disabled American Veterans report on female veterans’ challenges which noted that as many as one in three women enrolled in department health care have reported some form of military sexual trauma. However, researchers found only about 30% of women who report that trauma successfully have it included in their medical records.

Advocates behind that report argued that changes in how the department handles sexual assault and harassment cases could help improve overall mental health care and results for women veterans.

The inspector general’s office recommended new training for all front-line staff “to properly handle acute sexual assault cases and maintain procedural knowledge” to fix all of their reported shortfalls.

Lawmakers said they want a report on proposed reforms by mid-March. VA officials have not yet responded to the request.

The former USAF Thunderbird had found success at Berkshire Hathaway, where he worked for Warren Buffett and Greg Able, providing mentoring and leadership training for employees at all levels up to senior executives at the energy company.

Smith says his military connections had led him to Berkshire, but when he decided to leave, he found navigating his career to be quite challenging.

“I was looking for direction and clarity,” Smith said. “A way to have the best impact I could.”

At that time, there were no programs like Credentialing Opportunities On-Line (COOL), which helps service members find information on certifications and licenses related to their military occupation and civilian careers. Recently, the U.S. Department of Defense added the International Coaching Federation’s Associate Certified Coach credential to the COOL offerings.

“For me, if I had the DoD COOL pathway to becoming a coach available to me then, it would have been life-changing,” Smith said. He’s now a best-selling author and motivational speaker.

“Talk about being set up for success right out of the gate,” Smith said. “The ICF credential helps to set a clear path for a coaching career, which is invaluable when making a transition from the military into this new career path.”

COOL began first with the Army in 2002 – and today, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard each have their own service-specific programs designed to match military occupations to civilian credentials such as occupational certifications, licenses, and apprenticeships.

The programs also provide resources to help Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen attain these credentials, which can help give job-seekers an advantage or fill gaps between training requirements needed for certain careers.

Smith says the ICF credentials are considered gold standard in the growing profession. He’s coached a variety of folks – from military commanders to CEOs, banking executives and pastors. He said the ICF training has helped him become a better mentor and teacher.

“ICF’s programs have helped add alignment and clarity around my coaching, elevating my thinking from what I do to why I do it. As I worked toward my ICF credential, I deepened my understanding of the ethics, values, and code of conduct for the profession and practice, which has helped me both in the military and in corporate America,” Smith said.

According to ICF, the addition of the program to COOL comes just as coaching is taking off, with more organizations investing in coaching for their employees. The profession grew by 54 percent from 2019 to 2022, according to the ICF’s Global Consumer Awareness Study, with over 100,000 practitioners worldwide.

Coach practitioners in North America reported earning an average of $67,800 in annual income, and the prestigious ICF credentials give folks a competitive advantage because of the rigorous requirements and high-quality standards in a fast-growing yet unregulated industry.

“It is a huge value add for the individual coach,” said Carrie Abner, Vice President of Credentials and Standards at ICF. “Equally important is the positive impact that coaching offers to clients, and those impacts create a ripple effect, adding value beyond the individual to organizations, communities and society.”

But perhaps the best part of ICF’s programs now being available through COOL, Abner said, is the chance for ICF to in some way give back to our nation’s veterans.

“We are honored to support the exceptional, selfless, and diverse members of the military as they advance their careers or transition to new ones, and we know that the addition of a coaching credential will serve to expand the ways in which they continue to contribute to building a better world,” Abner said.

For more information on the program, visit the COOL website.

Paparo’s confirmation was advanced by a voice vote without any objections late Wednesday evening, alongside 25 other senior military promotions. The chamber also confirmed Aprille Joy Ericsson as assistant secretary of defense within the Department of Defense’s research office in a voice vote.

Paparo will replace Adm. John Aquilino, who has served in the INDOPACOM role since April 2021. Paparo currently serves as commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet, and was nominated for the new role last August.

How Adm. Paparo will lead the US military in the Indo-Pacific

During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Feb. 1, Paparo listed China, Russia and North Korea as the most pressing threats to U.S. military interests in the Pacific.

“If confirmed, I will ensure that we maintain the overmatch that preserves stability today, tomorrow, next week and for the decades to come,” he said.

Paparo is the son of an enlisted Marine and the grandson of an enlisted sailor who fought in World War II, according to his command biography. The Pennsylvania native has served in a variety of leadership roles during his 37-year military career.

A TOPGUN graduate, Paparo has logged more than 6,000 hours flying the F-14 Tomcat, the F-15 Eagle and the F/A-18 Super Hornet and has 1,100 carrier landings under his belt. As a fighter pilot, he took out a surface-to-air missile site in Kandahar during the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001.

He was one of hundreds of military leaders whose promotions and confirmations were held up for months last year after Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., staged a protest over the Defense Department’s abortion access policies.

Tuberville dropped those holds in December, but Paparo’s confirmation took several more weeks because of lingering background work by the Senate committee.

INDOPACOM oversees more than 380,000 American servicemembers stationed overseas and is responsible for all U.S. military activities in 36 nations.

The recommendations are included in a new report released Thursday by the Council on Criminal Justice’s Veterans Justice Commission, which also calls for an overhaul of post-military transition classes to better prepare departing troops for civilian life.

“Transition is still not treated as a priority by the Department of Defense,” according to the report. “The result is a fragmented and under-resourced system that leaves too many service members ill-prepared for civilian life. This lack of preparation increases their vulnerability to involvement in the criminal justice system.”

The commission is chaired by former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and counts among its members former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, former Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Alford McMichael, Georgia Supreme Court Justice Michael Boggs, and a host of other retired defense and Veterans Affairs officials.

Number of imprisoned veterans concerns former defense chiefs

In a statement, Hagel said the report offers a path to provide more help to the 181,000 veterans currently imprisoned in state and federal facilities and future veterans who could face similar legal problems.

“All of our veterans should be leading healthy, productive civilian lives,” he said. “It is unconscionable that so many land in our criminal justice system, in large part because we aren’t doing more to help manage the legacy of their military deployments.”

Implementing the group’s recommendations for reforms would cost nearly $5 billion over the next decade, a figure the report authors acknowledged as costly. “But we also recognize the high cost of failing too.”

The most expensive steps would be the changes to eligibility for VA health care and veteran education benefits.

Currently, troops leaving the military can use some VA medical services for up to 10 years after their separation, but the process is not automatic. Fewer than half take advantage of the benefit.

“Given the heightened likelihood of multiple deployments, combat exposure, and associated injuries … the absence of robust care increases the risk that these conditions will not be sufficiently treated, therefore leading to an elevated likelihood of violent and criminal behavior,” the report stated.

“Additionally, veterans lacking VA care and benefits are more likely to face financial insecurity, a factor that has been linked to a greater propensity for criminal behavior.”

Similarly, the report argues that making GI Bill benefits available to more veterans can stave off potential future financial problems and criminal temptations. Currently, veterans with other than honorable separations (about 12,000 troops annually) are not eligible for education assistance.

“While other than honorable discharges comprise approximately 6% of all discharges, they make up 18% of the discharges held by incarcerated veterans,” the report stated.

Implementing those changes — and most of the others in the report — would require congressional action. At present, there are no legislative proposals moving through the House or Senate related to those kinds of benefits expansions.

The commission launched in 2022 and is expected to offer additional recommendations before sunsetting in 2025.

Veterans Affairs officials say the move is meant to be a technical correction to definitions governing online-only college programs, and does not require a formal public review period.

But 25 veterans organizations — including The American Legion, Paralyzed Veterans of America and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America — said the change raises serious concerns about how students may use or misuse the GI Bill in the future.

In a letter to VA Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs last week, the groups voiced “deep opposition” to the move, saying it for the first time opens GI Bill funds to “unaccredited online programs that do not lead to a degree.” The groups are now asking for the changes to be halted, or at least subjected to a public review period mandated for similar sweeping changes.

Some vets got double housing stipends due to flaw in jobs program

“The impact of the proposed changes will lead to veterans being charged their GI Bill for what amounts to simple access to the internet,” said William Hubbard, vice president for Veterans and Military Policy at Veterans Education Success, which has led the effort to block the change.

“VA will have opened a loophole in the GI Bill that provides the worst scammers out there with direct and unchecked access to veterans and their valuable GI Bill dollars.”

At issue is how online-only college programs are handled under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which provides at least 36 months of tuition costs for student veterans or eligible family members. Recipients are also eligible for a monthly housing stipend, although students attending classes completely online receive a lesser payout than their on-site peers.

The total value of the benefit can be well over $100,000, a sum that has made veterans a target for scammers — as well as for-profit and not-for-profit schools — over the years.

In 2021, partially in response to the massive upsurge in students attending remote classes during the American COVID-19 pandemic, VA officials held a public review of those online learning courses with the goal of simplifying some of the participation rules. Online-only classes currently fall under the broad category of “Independent Study” programs.

Originally, the rule changes focused mainly on which states were responsible for accrediting online-only programs. But in recent months, regulators shifted the proposed changes to include removing remote classes from the Independent Study category, in an effort to reduce confusion over the differences between college classifications and actual course work.

Advocates say that reclassification — whether purposefully or accidentally — removes requirements for those schools that their programs be accredited by state agencies and provide degrees for students. Instead, online-only classes would exist in a legal gray area, with less regulation and oversight.

“A veteran could be charged their GI Bill by an education program that consists exclusively of YouTube tutorials and leaves the veteran with no industry-recognized credentials,” VES officials warned in a memo on the changes provided to VA and congressional officials.

The veterans groups objecting to the move said the idea was not part of the 2021 public comment sessions on the GI Bill, but instead was proposed by bureaucrats behind the scenes after public comments closed.

Now the veterans groups want the public review reopened, so they can discuss potential problems with those changes.

In a statement, VA Press Secretary Terrence Hayes said officials are reviewing “additional methods of obtaining public comment” on the matter but have not committed to restarting the process.

He said VA leaders believe the proposed changes will allow the department to continue “working in partnership with State Approving Agencies to protect the integrity of VA education benefits offered while also looking to expand the options available to allow veterans to grow professionally and personally.”

VA officials have not released a timeline for when the new rules may go into effect. Veterans advocates are hoping they can persuade department leaders or lawmakers to stop the process before they do.

They say that more outreach and research efforts are needed to more effectively encourage women veterans to seek care, instead of relying on male-focused messaging already in use by the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“The lack of recognition for women’s service, isolation after separation from military service, poor social support and unique risk factors all contribute to the challenges and barriers that many ill and injured women veterans face as they transition from service members to civilians and work toward physical recovery and mental wellness after service,” the report stated.

Women make up about 10% of the veterans population and roughly the same percentage of enrolled patients in the VA health care system, according to Veterans Affairs statistics. Those numbers are expected to grow significantly over the next decade.

Injured women vets lonelier, more stressed than male peers: report

DAV researchers said mental health outreach for VA officials has shown important advances in recent years, but often that messaging is focused solely on the needs and challenges of male veterans.

In particular, report authors noted that VA suicide prevention efforts do not include components on military sexual trauma or postpartum adjustments, both of which increase the risk of suicide among female vets. Little research has been done on whether firearms safety efforts should be adjusted to improve outreach to female veterans.

“Too many women veterans are unaware of the resources available to them or struggle to access the timely, quality mental health services that are essential to recovery and overall well-being,” the report stated.

At a forum unveiling the report on Tuesday, a panel of experts said the process of fixing those shortfalls needs to start with a recognition that adjustments to existing male-only efforts aren’t providing all of the help that women veterans need.

“When I left the military more than 30 years ago, VA was just beginning to focus on the growing number of women veterans,” said Army veteran Joy Illem, national legislative director for DAV. “Much has changed for the better since then, but there’s still so much more to be done.”

VA officials said they are working to address that.

“There’s a lot of research underway on barrier reduction, better understanding of how women veterans use the Veterans Crisis Line, how they may use it differently and their experiences,” said Dr. Elizabeth Yano, a health care researcher at VA.

“We need to better understand what leads women veterans to suicide, the gender differences in suicidal thoughts and attempts, what they experienced when they enter care, how hard it is to get care and how to eliminate those barriers.”

The full report is available through the DAV website.

Dolan, a giant of a man in stature with an even bigger heart, was a major in the Air Force who sought to help veterans heal through kayak fishing. His passion coupled with the passion of others eventually led to the creation of Heroes on the Water, long after his passing.

Seventeen years after Heroes on the Water was founded in 2007, the non-profit organization has served more than 61,000 veterans, first responders and their families.

“Enthusiastic, like-minded people wanted to share their love of kayak fishing,” said Heroes on the Water spokesperson Faeda Elliott. “Our founder felt it might be a good way to help our veterans get off the couch and into nature.”

After Dolan and volunteers initially took soldiers from Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio on a kayak fishing trip for the first time, he realized he had a program that could make a difference in the lives of veterans looking for ways to cope with issues like post-traumatic stress disorder and other challenges vets commonly encounter while transitioning into civilian life.

One of those vets is Pat Cochrane, who served 12 years as a logistics officer in the Army, both on active duty and with the National Guard. His nine years of active duty included three deployments and direct ground combat during Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2006 to 2008.

Cochrane suffered through psychological and emotional effects of combat stress and survivors’ guilt as well as the transition stress of finding post-military employment. He is currently the senior manager of routing operations and capability for PepsiCo, based in Plano, Texas. He is also a member of PepsiCo’s VALOR Employee Resource Group that helps employees and their spouses who are transitioning from the military.

“I know firsthand the stressors that service members and their families go through, from personal loss to multiple deployments, training rotations, and more,” Cochrane said. “Throughout military service, there’s very little downtime to process what you are feeling and sacrificing. In my own transition, it was important for me to find moments where I could quiet my mind and reflect on my own experiences.”

Based in Allen, Texas, Heroes on the Water has 53 active chapters and five active therapeutic programs across 24 states.

VALOR and Heroes on the Water have partnered for 10 years, and in September they celebrated that relationship with an event in Plano with Frito Lay (part of PepsiCo), at the company’s private 300-acre lake, for more than 40 area veterans.

Cochrane isn’t the biggest fan of fishing, but participated in the event to support the other veterans who came to campus to experience it.

“Starting early in the morning, our visitors had the chance to enjoy several hours of ‘catch and keep’ kayak fishing on our Lake Frito,” Cochrane said. “It’s gorgeous, peaceful and filled with catfish and bass. We have these events many times, but each event we have supported has been a truly unique and rewarding experience for our associates.”

PepsiCo and Frito Lay started the VALOR group a decade ago with the goal of becoming a top career destination for veterans. It has 16 chapters across the country and works with veterans and their families and first-responders.

One of VALOR’s signature events is the annual “Rolling Remembrance,” an American flag relay that covers 14,000 miles and last year featured 62 truck drivers who are military veterans across the country leading up to Memorial Day.

“The most important service we provide is a safe, judgment-free space for military spouses, veterans and advocates to come together and feel supported,” said John Flesher, co-chair of VALOR’s employee resource group. “We have a shared mission to provide healing and camaraderie for veterans, making our organizational relationship a perfect partnership. Together we are able to shed light on this important mission, support the challenges that arise for veterans, and provide wellness opportunities.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to remove an incorrect reference to the founding of Heroes on the Water.

The move comes in response to a lawsuit filed last month by the Transgender American Veterans Association, which argues department officials are endangering the health of transgender veterans by refusing to provide gender confirmation surgery.

VA Secretary Denis McDonough in June 2021 announced plans to offer the procedures, also known as gender reassignment surgeries, at some department medical centers as part of larger efforts to make VA “more welcoming” to all veterans.

But in the nearly three years since that announcement, no surgeries have been performed, and the issue remains stalled in the rulemaking process.

Transgender vets sue VA to force move on gender confirmation surgeries

In response to the TAVA lawsuit, McDonough on Feb. 22 issued a memo saying the department has not yet decided “how and when it might ultimately provide gender affirming surgery” and that officials need to better understand how other recent rules changes — including an expansion of health care options under the PACT Act — might impact the number of veterans eligible for those procedures.

During a press conference on Monday, McDonough said he expects that review to take several months.

“I’ve said before that transgender veterans deserve world-class health care and benefits, and that gender-affirming care should be available to all vets who need it,” he said. “But we’re not ready to begin rulemaking at this point to address [gender confirmation surgeries.]”

Advocates have decried those delays. In their lawsuit, TAVA officials called the surgeries “medically necessary care” and said the failure to move ahead with the procedures “puts transgender veterans at increased risk of physical harm, psychological distress, and suicide.”

In a statement Monday, officials from the Yale Law School’s Veterans Legal Services Clinic (which filed the lawsuit along with TAVA) said that McDonough “has broken his promise to transgender veterans to provide life-saving, doctor-prescribed, transition-related surgical care” with the latest move.

On Monday, House Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Mark Takano, D-Calif., echoed those concerns.

“VA has been studying the impact of gender-affirming care on the veteran community for years,” he said in a statement. “All of the studies I have read point to this type of care being important and necessary for transgender veterans. I am extremely frustrated that it has taken three years for VA to make this disappointing decision.”

Takano noted that the department’s inaction on the issue comes as transgender health care has become a target of conservative lawmakers across the country. He criticized the department for failing to lead on the issue.

“I will continue to push the secretary to make the right decision,” he said. “This unacceptable outcome cannot be the final word from this administration.”

McDonough did not give a specific end date for the latest review, but said he would “be prepared to dig into that as soon as it’s finished.”

In the past, VA officials have estimated that as many as 4,000 veterans nationwide would be interested in the procedures, also known as gender reassignment surgeries. The department does offer other support for transgender veterans, but those services have come under criticism from conservative lawmakers in recent months.

The hearing, in front of the House Armed Services Committee, comes after several chamber lawmakers have already called for Austin’s resignation over the episode.

Austin, 70, was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Jan. 1 after developing a urinary tract infection from complications related to prostate cancer surgery on Dec. 22. Senior military leaders were not informed of his condition until several days later, and White House officials — including President Joe Biden — were not made aware the defense secretary was hospitalized until Jan. 5.

Earlier this month, acknowledged communication mistakes in his handling of the incident and said his decisions were “more about privacy than secrecy.”

White House officials and many congressional Democrats have offered their support for him in recent weeks, but congressional Republicans have said the incident raises significant questions about the security of the military’s chain of command.

Tuesday, Feb. 27

Wednesday, Feb. 28

Thursday, Feb. 29

Local leaders unveiled details of the new arrangement on Friday, which will allow VA staffers to operate in offices at the Blanchfield Army Community Hospital and provide dental care, women’s health care, intensive care, and pain management services to nearby veterans. Officials expect to serve about 3,000 veterans living in Tennessee and Kentucky.

The move comes a few weeks after the two departments announced a similar partnership at Naval Hospital Pensacola in Florida, with VA staff moving into unused military medical space to provide more health care options for local veterans.

VA eyes more medical care for vets with toxic exposure issues

VA Deputy Assistant Under Secretary for Health for Operations Al Montoya said 12 more partnerships are under discussion, with department staffers expected to open doors to new medical offices at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, in the coming weeks.

“We are leveraging every tool that we have at our disposal to expand health care access for veterans and address our aging infrastructure,” he said. “It’s really about placing the care as close to the veteran as possible, and utilizing the Defense Department partnership arrangements that we have.”

VA operates 172 medical centers and more than 1,100 outpatient sites across the country, but department leaders for years have noted that many of those facilities are aging and in need of significant upgrades. The average age of VA hospitals is nearly 60 years old.

Meanwhile, demands for VA medical care have increased in recent years, especially with the expansion of health care eligibility through legislation like the PACT Act. Montoya said identifying and utilizing extra space at Defense Department locations provides a potential solution to those problems, placing care options closer to where many veterans live.

VA staff will handle care and appointment issues at the new offices within the military facilities. But in a statement, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs Dr. Lester Martinez-Lopez said the arrangement will “help our medical professionals maintain their readiness skills” in some cases.

The two departments already jointly operate the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in Illinois, treating active-duty patients, family members and veterans. And the two departments also jointly occupy 176 medical sites across the country, although most are smaller clinics with limited health care options.

Montoya said officials hope to use that model to more aggressively expand options in the future, to the benefit of veterans.

VA officials said the Fort Campbell region in Tennessee is one of the most rapidly growing veteran communities in the country, with more than 21,000 veterans enrolled in department health care and another 29,000 veterans eligible.

The department has also planned three new outpatient clinics for the area, but those are not expected to be completed until fiscal 2027.

On Thursday officials from Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States released their annual Independent Budget report, arguing for continued investment into VA programs and priorities in the years ahead.

The move comes as Congress is still struggling to finalize its fiscal 2024 budget for VA operations, even though the new fiscal year started nearly five months ago. VA officials have been continuing services through a mix of short-term budget extensions approved by Congress and advanced appropriations approved in late 2022.

Advocates noted in their budget pitch that returning to stable annual funding for the department — and other federal agencies — must be lawmakers’ top priority in the months ahead.

How big can the Veterans Affairs budget grow?

“Continuing disagreements over federal government funding levels have resulted in ongoing concerns about whether VA will be able to meet the needs of veterans, their families, and survivors,” the report stated.

“The use of continuing resolutions have hampered VA’s ability to meet increased demand for care and benefits. Although advance appropriations ensure VA can provide uninterrupted medical services and benefits, the threat of lapses in funding causes uncertainty and anxiety for veterans and complicates VA’s ability to focus on its core mission.”

The White House’s fiscal 2024 budget request for discretionary programs — services and initiatives are separate from mandatory payouts like veterans benefits — totaled nearly $138 billion, a record for the department. The Independent Budget report calls for that to increase about 10% in fiscal 2025, to more than $150 billion.

Much of that would be focused on medical care. Group officials estimate as many as 130,000 patients could enroll in VA health care next fiscal year, thanks to legislation — like the PACT Act — passed in recent years.

The report notes that while department officials have made medical staff hiring a priority in recent years, “the Veterans Health Administration is still facing shortages of mental health care professionals across the country” and “fell short of its targets for Licensed Practical Nurses and Certified Nursing Assistants.” Fixing that will require more funding boosts.

The advocates also project increases in dental care use among enrolled patients and long-term care expenses among aging veterans. The Independent Budget calls for an increase of $150 million in suicide prevention programs and $160 million in women veterans health care to help advance those priorities.

VA has seen steady funding growth for more than two decades, even at times when other federal agencies have been forced to make cuts.

In 2001, the entire VA budget — including both discretionary program spending and mandatory benefits payouts — amounted to about $45 billion. By 2013, the budget totaled $139 billion, still less than half of this year’s request. In fiscal 2023, the department’s total budget topped $300 billion for the first time.

Biden is expected to release his fiscal 2025 budget request on March 11. But Congress has several other budget deadlines to worry about before that.

The latest short-term funding extension for federal agencies is set to run out for a handful of departments on March 1 and for all government operations on March 8. If lawmakers can’t reach a new deal by then, the impasse would trigger a shutdown of most federal operations and services.

The move comes three months after Army officials set aside courts-martial convictions of 110 Black soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment — also known as the Buffalo Soldiers — involved in the violence. Service officials found that the men were not given fair trials and ordered that their military records be revised to reflect their honorable service.

In a ceremony attended by descendants of the men and local civil rights activists, VA and Defense Department officials unveiled the new headstones and pledged to continue to try to make amends for past racial injustices.

Army clears convictions of Black soldiers charged in 1917 riot

“Equal justice belongs to all soldiers, today and every day,” said VA Deputy Secretary Tanya Bradsher. “This day, in some small way, reflects the progress we have made as a nation since these men were first buried here over a century ago. It’s progress that makes clear that all institutions must live up to the ideals and promise of our nation’s constitution.”

At least 19 people died in the 1917 riots, sparked by the assault and arrest of several Black residents, including two soldiers, by white police officers searching for suspects in an unrelated set of crimes.

Before the violence ended, more than 100 Black soldiers took up arms and entered the city, despite orders to stand down. In a series of speedy court-martial proceedings — during which a single soldier with limited legal training represented all of the defendants — 110 Black soldiers were convicted of murder, mutiny and related crimes.

Of those, 13 were executed by hanging within days of the verdict, and six more shortly thereafter.

Army records say the bodies of the men were put in a mass grave until 1937, when 17 of them were exhumed, identified and relocated to Fort Sam Houston’s graveyard. Until now, the headstones for each contained only a name and the year of their death.

In an effort to “fully honor their service,” the newly dedicated markers include names, states, ranks, units and dates of death. An interpretive marker nearby details the history behind the deaths and the changes made to military judicial procedures following the incident.

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserves Yvette Bourcicot said the marker will serve as a charge to remind military leaders “to make the Army a place where everyone who wants to serve can serve.”

VA operates 34 soldiers’ lots and monument sites across the nation, along with 155 national cemeteries.

The move is expected to affect about 50,000 current GI Bill users who also receive other veterans stipends, but VA leaders are promising they will not cut off benefits to anyone as a result of the changes.

Instead, if veterans fail to consolidate their bank accounts by April 20, department processors will begin sending all of the benefits to a single account. Still, such a move could cause significant financial problems for individuals expecting to find the money in a specific account to cover bills and expenses.

Officials said they will spend the next two months aggressively contacting the thousands of student veterans potentially impacted by the new rule, and explaining the reasons behind it.

Student vets seek mental health care more often than military peers

“Maintaining a single account for the payment of this benefit provides an added layer of security against the increasing threats of fraud we experience as part of our daily lives,” VA Under Secretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs told reporters on Wednesday.

“Veterans have earned these benefits through their service to the nation. And ensuring they’re safeguarded from those with malicious intent is a significant feature of this single account initiative.”

VA officials said veterans may use different bank accounts for different benefits for a variety of reasons, including ease of bill paying and simply forgetting to update old accounts.

But Jacobs warned that such an arrangement makes it easier for fraud or theft, and harder for VA officials to provide oversight of the funds. He said the changes come as “we are working to modernize our payment systems so we can protect the integrity of the veterans benefits” across multiple systems.

VA has enacted similar bank account mandates in the past, including in 2017, when Veteran Readiness and Employment benefits were required to be sent to the same place as medical stipend payouts.

Veterans impacted by the change can update their bank records or find out more information about the new policy through the department’s website.

In a letter sent Tuesday to President Joe Biden, key leaders from the House Armed Services Committee called for the budget plan to include plans to improve military housing, junior enlisted pay, military health care options, base childcare availability and military spouse employment assistance programs.

The lawmakers said they hope to address those issues as part of the upcoming annual defense authorization bill, but said a strong show of support from the White House regarding the issues is needed to produce fixes.

“The committee’s quality of life inquiry thus far has revealed an alarming erosion of military quality of life that, if not addressed quickly, will soon place the all-volunteer force at risk,” the lawmakers wrote. “Reversing this decline will require a national commitment of resources to address quality of life concerns for service members and their families.”

Lawmakers press for junior enlisted pay boost as soon as possible

The push was signed by committee chairman Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., ranking member Adam Smith, D-Wash., quality of life panel chairman Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and panel ranking member Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa. The group has been outspoken in recent months about the need for a congressional focus on military quality of life issues.

Biden is expected to release his fiscal 2025 budget request on March 11. But Congress still has not finalized plans for the current fiscal year budget, even though fiscal 2024 began on Oct. 1.

The latest short-term funding extension for federal agencies is set to run out for a handful of departments on March 1 and for all government operations on March 8. If lawmakers can’t reach a new deal by then, the impasse would trigger a shutdown of most federal operations and services.

Biden is scheduled to deliver his annual State of the Union address before both chambers of Congress on March 7. White House officials have not yet indicated how much — if any — of the speech will focus on military family and service member benefit issues.

Earlier this month, Bacon told Military Times that he is focused on addressing several key military quality of life issues through legislation this year, but noted that those fixes may come in the form of multi-year plans.

Among them — and among the requests outlined in Tuesday’s letter — are junior enlisted pay increases and dealing with “aging and poorly maintained barracks, dormitories, and single-family housing forcing service members and their families to contend with mold, pests, and other unacceptable habitability problems.”

“This is a large, costly undertaking, but it is our moral and national security imperative to support those who serve,” they wrote.

Most junior enlisted service members currently make around $24,000 a year in basic pay, while enlisted troops nearing retirement typically earn about $70,000 annually. In contrast, the most junior enlisted officers make at least $46,000 annually, and most make more than $80,000 a year with just six years of time in service.

The lawmakers noted that even with other bonuses and allowances, that level of salary can result in “food insecurity and economic insecurity with escalating negative impacts on recruiting and retention.”

All service members are scheduled to receive a 4.5% raise next January under the federal formula used to determine military month pay, which would be the third consecutive year of pay raises above 4% for troops.

But lawmakers have argued that those boosts do little to close the significant gap between officer and enlisted pay, and do not fully account for inflation costs in recent years.

Researchers said the findings point to a need for Veterans Affairs officials to better publicize resources and benefits available to those veterans to ensure their needs are being met.

More than 5.9 million veterans received some type of medical care at a VA facility in fiscal 2022, according to department records. Of that group, about 40% were seeking help with a mental health condition, a number that rose steadily each year from around 30% in fiscal 2017.

But GAO researchers found that among student veterans, mental health care requests made up about 70% of all medical visits in fiscal 2022. Based on their findings, that number has remained roughly 30% for the rest of the veteran population over the six-year span studied.

Do you know a struggling student veteran? Here’s where to start

“Research suggests that student veterans face unique challenges in pursuing an education after serving in the military and experience lower grade point averages and less social support than their non-veteran peers,” the report authors wrote. “They are also more likely to suffer from anxiety, stress, depression, and suicidal ideation.”

Demographics may also be a key part of disparity. Past VA research has shown that younger veterans — particularly those under age 35 — are more open to seeking mental health care than older generations. Among student veterans, 53% of those who are under 35 have used VA for mental health issues, compared to just 32% for veterans 35 and older.

GAO researchers said regardless of the causes, the trends point to a broader need to ensure student veterans can access mental health care if they so choose.

One effort designed to help with that is the Veterans Integration to Academic Leadership program, which allows VA health care systems to partner with local colleges and universities to provide campus-based mental health support to student veterans. Currently, only 32 of VA’s 139 health care systems have such programs.

“By more regularly communicating comprehensive information across its health care systems, such as thorough guidance, VA could help ensure its systems all have the information they need to consider participating in the program,” the researchers wrote. “This, in turn, would help ensure VA’s ability to support the mental health needs of its student veteran population.”

In response to the report, VA officials said The Office of Mental Health and Suicide Prevention is developing an annual briefing on the program to encourage more partnerships. That work is expected to be completed sometime in March.

The full report is available on the GAO website.

When John entered his workplace, his enlisted leaders greeted him by screaming at him for a “menial” mistake, something like forgetting to take out the trash or sweep properly.

“I was like, ‘Do I really want to subject myself to this for another four years?’” John recalled in a January interview with Marine Corps Times.

Once his leaders had left for the night, he chucked the folder in the trash.

John, now a Navy officer, spoke freely about his time in the military under the condition that Marine Corps Times not use his real name.

Here are some of the ways the Marines are trying to improve retention

Before the past few years, ­three ­quarters of enlisted Marines departed after one four-year term, as John did. Back then, the Marine Corps’ personnel model was to recruit young civilians, turn them into Marines, give them specialized training and churn most of them back out after four years.

But since 2021, the Corps has changed its approach.

It has thrown new bonuses and job ­options at enlisted Marines. It has tweaked its promotion policies to encourage ­reenlistments. It has promised ­long-term improvements to quality of life, albeit not many short-term fixes to the dire condition of the barracks.

The result? More and more Marines are opting to stay for second enlistments.

But the Marine Corps has room to grow in retention, according to Col. Eric Reid, the Corps’ head of manpower plans, programs and budget. It is not the case that the service has too many reenlistments on its hands.

“We’re a long way away from having that problem, although I would welcome that problem,” Reid told Marine Corps Times in January.

Even as more Marines sign on for ­second terms, lured in part by the Corps’ new focus on retention, many other ­Marines still — for a variety of reasons — decide to throw their reenlistment packages in the trash.

Some of the initiatives the Corps is pushing as a way to keep boosting ­retention will be expensive. Some will take a long time. Some may work, and some may not.

And the retention efforts hardly ­address what many Marine veterans say was a main reason they left: the indifferent, belittling or malicious treatment they received from some of their leaders.

The case for keeping Marines in

The Marine Corps already has seen a marked increase in the number of ­Marines who choose to stay.

In fiscal year 2020, the Marine Corps got 5,428 first-term enlisted Marines to reenlist, missing its goal by more than 300, according to data provided by Marine spokeswoman Capt. Sarah Eason.

But enlisted retention crept up in the ensuing years, and in fiscal year 2023 the Marine Corps aimed to have 6,225 ­first-term Marines reenlist. It overshot that goal, executing 7,079 first-term ­reenlistments.

The number of Marines ­choosing to ­reenlist after a second term in the ­service has modestly increased, according to the data.

Officer retention, however, has dropped, with 11% of officers leaving active duty in fiscal year 2023, compared to 8% in fiscal year 2019. Eason attributed that to the scrapping of some officer jobs, the military’s ­now-rescinded COVID-19 vaccine mandate and some ­officers delaying their separations ­until the economic uncertainties of the pandemic subsided. She said numbers are returning to pre-pandemic norms.

The unintended consequences of aging the Marine Corps

The Marine Corps’ retention efforts ­aren’t about making everyone happy, Reid said.

“It’s about being ready to answer the ­nation’s call and to fight and prevail on battlefields we see going into the 2030s and 2040,” Reid said.

In preparing for conflict with a technologically sophisticated adversary, ­namely the Chinese military, the service has ­revamped the way it fights.

The Marines who would fire at enemy ships from temporary bases or spy on the enemy with drones or plan deliveries of food and fuel that can escape the enemy’s notice require plenty of training, Marine leaders have said.

When those Marines leave after four years, the Corps loses their expertise, and it has to spend time and money training their replacements, Reid said. By holding on to those Marines, the idea goes, the service can reduce those costs.

The Marine Corps unveiled the new focus on retention in November 2021, in a document called Talent Management 2030, which emphasized the need to keep experienced Marines who could undertake the complexities of modern war.

The document also made the case for a slightly older force, alluding to research that shows people are more physically and mentally fit in their mid-20s than in their late teens and early 20s.

Some observers say a focus on retention has its downsides.

Retired Col. Warren Parker warned in an October 2022 opinion piece in Marine Corps Times that an older force could be less eager to deploy and more expensive to sustain.

“A distinguishing characteristic of the Corps is, unlike the other services, we are a young, first term force eager for adventure and challenge,” Parker wrote.

The Marine Corps hasn’t engaged in a war with another great power in ­recent years, so it is hard to say for ­certain whether having a more experienced force will pay off on the battlefield, as the ­service predicts.

But the emphasis on retention has ­already helped the Marine Corps weather the recruiting difficulties that have ­battered the other services.

In fiscal year 2022, the Corps just ­barely met its recruiting goal — and only because it saw higher-than-expected retention that allowed it to lower its initial goal. It made its recruiting goal the following year, too, even as every other branch besides the Space Force came up short.

Yet Parker speculated in his op-ed that the emphasis on retention could indirectly hamper future recruitment ­efforts, since returning high numbers of young Marines to the civilian world as ­veterans “helps to maintain an important link to the American people.”

Managing talent

To boost retention, the Marine Corps is setting out to build a “retention ­climate,” Col. Bob McCarthy, branch head of ­Manpower Management Enlisted Assignments, told Marine Corps Times in ­January.

The Corps has tasked commanding generals with a mission to keep a certain number of their Marines, prompting them to prioritize retention, McCarthy said. Career planners have been speaking with Marines earlier in their terms about their reenlistment options.

Another key initiative is the Commandant’s Retention Program, which targets a few thousand of the top-performing first-term Marines annually, McCarthy said. Those Marines get a streamlined path to reenlistment and greater choice about their next duty station.

Marine Talent Management 2030: Flawed foundation, flawed document

Cpl. Walker Kerns, an F/A-18 ejection seat mechanic with the South Carolina–based Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 312, ­reenlisted in October 2023 through that program. He had planned to reenlist anyway, but he appreciated that he didn’t have to jump through any hoops to do so, he told Marine Corps Times in January.

“What that did is it allowed me to ­focus not only on my job, instead of ­primarily being focused on reenlisting, but it kind of secured my spot, so to speak,” Kerns said.

The Marine Corps also is offering ­earlier reenlistments and promotions, loosening the policy of kicking out Marines who twice fail to get promoted, and allowing more local assignment changes to ­decrease the number of disruptive moves. And it is ­making it easier for Marines to switch jobs, in a process called lateral moves.

“There are more opportunities in ­today’s Marine Corps for you to do the things that you want and for you to be good at,” McCarthy said.

But retired Col. James Van Riper told Marine Corps Times he takes issue with what he sees as the implication of Talent Management: that Marines need to be managed, rather than led.

“While Marine leaders may manage materials, equipment, budgets, etc., they necessarily lead Marines, for Marines are not inanimate objects to be dealt with in the same manner as budgets or the handling of materials and equipment,” he wrote via email in January.

Your bonus is that you get a bonus

One kind of reenlistment incentive the Corps is offering Marines is financial.

At a conference in February 2023, Gen. Eric Smith, now the Marine commandant, sparked outrage among ­Marines by remarking on the idea of paying bonuses to recruits: “Your bonus is that you get to call yourself a Marine.”

As the comment spread across social ­media, it often appeared shorn of the context about recruiting, such that many Marines seemed to think their assistant commandant was anti-bonus in all cases. Which, Smith maintained, was far from true.

“The Marines who have earned that eagle, globe and anchor, you’re not who I was talking to,” Smith, then the assistant commandant, told Marine Corps Times the day after that remark. “You, I want to give a bonus to.”

In fact, the Marine Corps is offering a host of retention bonuses. And it actually does give out recruitment bonuses for certain job fields.

Marine Corps vows to inspect every single barracks ‘wall to wall’

In 2024, infantrymen who reenlist can fetch a $27,000 reenlistment kicker, plus tens of thousands more depending on how much time they have served. Reenlisting air traffic controllers get $30,000. ­Several dozen other in-demand specialties rate reenlistment bonuses, too.

There are bonuses for Marines who stay on in the Reserve after active duty.

There are hefty kickers for Marines who switch into jobs like counterintelligence and drone operating.

There are pay bumps for recruiters and even greater pay bumps for those who agree to stay in that often thankless job for extra time.

Not all of these financial incentives are new. But the Marine Corps has increased its spending on special pay for enlisted ­Marines from $146 million in fiscal year 2017, or approximately $184 million in ­today’s dollars, to $214 million in fiscal year 2023, according to budget documents.

Yet paying people more money costs money — and to get money, the Marine Corps relies on Congress.

Congress sets standard base pay for troops across the services. For other kinds of pay, the Marine Corps is also to a large extent at the mercy of Congress.

Lawmakers haven’t yet passed the full budget for the fiscal year, leaving some of the financial incentives the Marine Corps has planned for in limbo, Reid said in January.

“We’re not able to move quite as quickly as we wanted to this year to fully execute,” the colonel said. “We’re mitigating the risk right now to our retention plan. … I think we’re going to find a way to adapt.”

Better barracks and chow — someday

Low pay, sluggish reenlistment processes and a lack of job choice are far from the only issues that have pushed good ­Marines to leave the Corps, Marine ­leaders have acknowledged.

The barracks, often known as “the bricks,” are 34 years old on average, according to Smith, and often in a sorry state. Mold is a persistent problem in the Corps’ barracks, as it is in other branches’ housing.

The service is planning some ­improvements to barracks management, maintenance and furniture in the short term. On Feb. 7, it announced a “wall-to-wall” inspection of every single barracks room and squad bay to assess the problems in the facilities.

But better barracks won’t come cheap or quickly.

The Marine Corps wants Congress to give it approximately $1.5 billion a year for barracks, up from $300 million a year, according to an internal memo obtained by Marine Corps Times. And it will take a decade to resolve the barracks problems, Smith said in October 2023.

Marine Corps vows to inspect every single barracks ‘wall to wall’

In the meantime, the Corps’ School of Infantry–East in North Carolina had to shut down a shower facility in December 2023 and send in a health inspector because of apparent black mold coating the ceiling. The following month, ­photos taken by a Marine at the West Coast infantry school revealed dead vermin and general disarray.

Corps leadership has an idea of what better barracks would look like.

Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlos Ruiz posted an Instagram video in January showing off the glossy new ­barracks building for Marines at Naval Weapons Station Yorktown, Virginia.

These “barracks of the future,” as Ruiz called them, boast a gym, sleek lounge ­areas, in-room thermostats, walk-in ­closets and plenty of natural light.

“That’s where we want to get to,” Ruiz said.

The Marine Corps also sees food as an area it needs to improve if it wants to keep more Marines.

That could mean meal cards for Marines to use at a variety of on-base locations, Lt. Gen. James Glynn, deputy commandant for manpower and reserve affairs, told reporters in March 2023. The service also plans to invest in renovating its chow halls, Smith said the same month.

“In the future world of recruiting challenges, we cannot lose a 12-year intelligence professional or artillery Marine because we could not provide access to pediatric care or a high quality chow hall,” the Marine Corps warned that month in an update to its Talent Management 2030 plan.

‘Miss the clowns, not the circus’

After Marine Corps Times published a call for readers to weigh in for this ­story, more than 200 responses poured in, ­providing an unscientific overview of why Marines leave the service. Each told a unique story.

Some left because they lacked opportunities in their job fields, a problem the Marine Corps is now trying to counteract by offering more lateral moves, or they couldn’t get promoted. Some left because of medical issues, exacerbated by physical training and the Corps’ suck-it-up mentality.

Some left because they were disillusioned with the withdrawal from Afghanistan, the vaccine mandate or the introduction of women into infantry jobs. Some left because they faced discrimination on the basis of their race, sexuality or gender.

Some left because their spouses threatened them with divorce if they didn’t leave, and sometimes those spouses divorced them anyway. Some left because they hated being forced to serve as ­recruiters. Some left because they ­wanted to pursue full-time college or higher-paying jobs.

Here’s how the Marine Corps plans to oust toxic leaders

But one theme emerged again and again: Lots of Marines left because they hated the way their leaders treated them.

Multiple veterans complained of “­being treated like a child” and of “fuck-fuck games,” the colorful term describing the useless or nearly useless tasks that leaders sometimes force junior Marines to do. More than a dozen used the word “toxic” to describe their leadership.

These veterans said they left because of the gunnery sergeant who denied a Marine’s request to visit a dying grandmother, the second lieutenant who ­refused to promote a corporal who had ­romantic success with a certain woman they both liked, the sergeant major who yelled at Marines for there being too much dirt under the bushes by the barracks.

Many of the veterans who wrote to ­Marine Corps Times said they missed their peers but not their unit’s leaders: “miss the clowns, not the circus,” as one put it.

Back in 2021, the Marine Corps touted one new initiative as a way to prevent toxic leadership — to clean up the circus. The service said it would solicit reviews from leaders’ peers and subordinates, not just their supervisors, and incorporate that “360-degree feedback” into decisions about which leaders got promoted.

Then the Corps walked back that plan.

In May 2023, it unveiled a pilot program that would collect 360-degree feedback on a select group of leaders. But the feedback would be used only to help ­leaders “construct a development plan that leverages their identified strengths and addresses any blind spots.”

It wouldn’t factor into decisions about promotion decisions.

“When we began conducting our ­background research on how to execute a 360-degree review we identified incongruities with our objectives when used as an evaluation tool,” Marine spokesman Maj. Jordan Cochran said in a statement at the time. “These incongruities are not a concern when the tool is used strictly for development purposes.”

Ruiz, the top enlisted Marine, acknowledged in a January statement to Marine Corps Times that “leadership undoubtedly contributes to Marines’ plans in and out of service.”

But he said quality-of-life issues are at the forefront of what the Corps sees when it assesses separation trends.

“Marines made a promise to this nation that they will fight and win when called upon,” Ruiz said. “Their service cannot be taken for granted, and it’s our responsibility as leaders to provide quality care, quality living conditions and transparent leadership.”

Ruiz told Marine Corps Times on Jan. 31 that he benefited from good leaders who took the time to push him — an immigrant from Mexico who “came from nothing” — to try new things, to challenge himself.

“If that doesn’t happen during your time wearing a uniform, then you’re going to seek it somewhere else,” Ruiz said.

Marine leaders to get subordinate reviews, but it won’t affect promotion

John, who threw his reenlistment package into a trash can nearly eight years ago and recently became a Navy officer, said his time in the Marine Corps wasn’t all bad.

But he didn’t like the way ­higher-ranking Marines in his unit treated junior Marines: reluctant to take their ideas seriously, all too quick to punish them for small infractions.

He wants to make sure his sailors don’t face the kind of treatment that once discouraged him from reenlisting.

“The nonsense wears on people’s minds,” John said.

Kerns, the aircraft mechanic who ­reenlisted in 2023, said his leaders are one reason he is staying in.

Recently, even though his unit really needs him at work, leaders there let him spend three weeks at the Corporals Course, which he must complete in order to get promoted to sergeant. He saw that as them looking out for his career.

The Marine Corps has given him so much, the corporal said: strong values and interpersonal skills, leaders who support him, the chance to serve his country.

For Kerns, at least, the Marine Corps delivered on its promises. Now he wants to give back. ■