Doug Karr

Beginning on October 1^st, President Obama’s $3.73 trillion dollar budget for the 2012 fiscal year will kick in. One of the first things I wondered as a veteran was, how will this new budget impact veterans and members of the military? I decided to consult a great article put out by the NY Times and break it down by agency.

The Department of Defense (DoD) has been allotted $727 billion in spending money for 2012 – that’s an increase of almost 6%. The new budget calls forover $117 billion dollars just to address costs stemming from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but that happens to be a decrease of about $43 billion from the 2011 budget. Note that, in 2012, the government plans on spending the least amount of money on international wars since 2006.

Tags: budget, department of defense, mesothelioma, military, VA, veterans, war

Now here’s an inspiring story! Army Specialist Caroline Barry has quite the impressive resume: she is a ten-time national boxing champion, a five-timeUnited States team captain, and has racked up the amateur awards too. At one time, Spec. Barry was ranked as high as fifth overall in the world, andhas received medals in six international tournaments, as well as having competed in world championships.

To add to the impressive factor, Spec. Barry is so consummate, that she has already retired.

Tags: asbestos, asbestos exposure, boxing, iraq war, mesothelioma, military, olympics, specialist caroline barry

MSNBC.com reports today that one of the biggest banks in our nation, JP Morgan Chase, is now coming clean and admitting that they not only “improperlyforeclosed” over a dozen homes belonging to military families, but that they also overcharged military families for their mortgages. The admissioncomes after Marine Captain Jonathan Rowles and his wife sued the bank.

JP Morgan Chase says they reviewed how it handles the mortgages of active-duty military families after Capt. Rowles filed suit, and realized that theiremployees failed to abide by the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which lowers the mortgage interest rates of military families to six percent andprotects them from foreclosure.  An official from the bank revealed that at least 4,000 families may have been overcharged, and that the bank“discovered” that it improperly foreclosed the homes of at least fourteen military families.

Tags: JP Morgan Chase, military, veterans

As the ninth anniversary of the attacks on America approaches, people throughout our country are feeling sad, or angry, and are taking time to reflect on how our nation has changed since that day. There are obvious changes, like the war against terror that America became involved in not long after 9/11, or the empty space in Manhattan amidst tall skyscrapers where three structural landmarks once stood like beacons.

But it’s the less-obvious impacts of 9/11 that I want to call to your attention today. Like the first five Ground Zero workers and first responders to pass away in 2009 following illnesses attributed to toxic exposures. Like the longterm health worries that other workers and New Yorker’s who lived and worked nearby have to deal with because close to 2 million tons of debris released an immeasurable amount of toxins, including asbestos and benzene, into the air surrounding Ground Zero for days, weeks, and months after the attack. Like the fact that the House shot down a bill that would have allocated billions of dollars to those who are suffering due the dust that hung over Manhattan nine years ago.

Tags: 9/11, Ground Zero, military, new york city, september 11th, war in iraq

The Dept. of Veterans Affairs has confirmed that it has sent 10,000 letters to the beneficiaries of military members with life insurance policies in an effort to clear up confusion surrounding a number of issues, including death benefits provided through what is called an “Alliance Account.”

In addition, the VA is creating a group of experts who will be responsible for reviewing the current life insurance program. Prudential Financial, Inc. covers the program, which includes accounts similar to money-market accounts that are put in place to help surviving family members of deceased military men and women cover funeral and other costs.

Tags: death benefits, military, VA

If you haven’t already checked out our popular Twitter account, head on over to Twitter.com/veteransblog and follow us! We have 711 of the best following us for daily updates, including news, quotes and more of interest to the veteran and military community. We’re also on Facebook, so if you’re into social media become a fan of our Facebook page – we post links and other information there as well.

Today I rediscovered one of the coolest military support charities while browsing my Twitter updates – Bunkers in Baghdad (bunkerstweets on Twitter) is a non-for-profit charity based out of Buffalo, NY that collects both used and new golf equipment – shoes, golf balls, clubs, etc. – and sends them over to our men and women protecting our freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan. They have shipped over an impressive 1,000,000 golf balls and over 35,000 clubs in less than two years!

Tags: military, Bunkers in Baghdad, mesothelioma, non for profit, veteran