Verbatim from the TRICARE.mil website
If you missed TRICARE Open Season, you still have time to enroll. For this year only, you can enroll in or change your TRICARE Prime or TRICARE Select plan through Dec. 31, 2018 for coverage starting on Jan. 1, 2019. You may also change your type of enrollment, like switching from individual to family coverage. (more…)
The Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center will hold a Town Hall at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, December 12, at the Allentown VA Outpatient Clinic, 3110 Hamilton Boulevard, Allentown. Its purpose is to give an opportunity to veterans to meet with top officials and ask questions which concern them and others. Source: Read more…
This Christmas, Nazareth Life Church Ministries will be granting some Christmas wishes for local veterans, active military and their families. It will also hold a Christmas Party for them at the Blue’s event center in Bethlehem on December 20th between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. to express its appreciation for Read more…
The following is an excerpt from the minutes of the monthly VISN-4 veterans service organizations’ conference call in November. It addresses the issue of suicides among veterans:
In September, VA released national and state-level findings from its most recent analysis of Veteran suicide data, from 2005 to 2016. The analysis is part of VA’s ongoing examination of non-Veteran and Veteran death records that is being used to evaluate and improve VA’s Suicide Prevention Program. (more…)
On 20 November, LVB.com (a media product of Lehigh Valley Business) reported, “The trucking industry has a shortage of drivers, and many military veterans get out of the service and struggle to find the right job to be their second career.” The article stated Mack Trucks is donating one of its locally manufactured Anthem Trucks to the American Trucking Association to help recruit and hire veterans into the trucking industry.
The “Education and Talent Supply Report” recently released by the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation suggests (more…)
Heraclitus said the only constant is change. The Army, like the Navy, continues to prove its constant is a uniform change. Therefore, on Veterans Day, the Army officially announced a replacement (“pinks and greens”) to its current service uniform (Class A’s) inspired by its World War II uniform — “pinks Read more…
Depleted uranium (DU) has 60 percent of the radioactivity of natural uranium. It is a byproduct of creating the enriched product for nuclear reactors and weapons. Because of its density, easy availability, and relatively low cost, the U.S. military found it to be useful in manufacturing tank armor and some bullets to penetrate enemy armored vehicles. The large-scale use of DU for this purpose began during the Gulf War and has continued. (more…)
The Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA) announced today the opening of its fiscal year 2018-19 Veterans’ Trust Fund (VTF) grant cycle.
A combined total of $800,000 in grant funding is available for the 2018-19 grant cycle: 1) $650,000 for grants of up to $50,000 to veterans’ service organizations (VSOs) with 501(c)(19) status and nonprofit organizations with a mission of serving Pennsylvania veterans granted 501(c)(3) status under the Internal Revenue Code. (more…)
One of our member organizations, the Lehigh Valley-Bucks Chapter of the American Red Cross, wants to re-establish its Services to the Armed Forces (SAF) program in Lehigh, Northampton and Bucks counties. As a first step, a special kind of volunteer, working with the regional project manager for the program, must be found.
What is the Red Cross’ SAF program in the first place? It is a longstanding program which supports our service members in the military by connecting them with their families during emergencies, providing them resilience training to deal with the challenges of deployment, and linking their families with local community resources. (more…)