In his first piece of legislation as U.S. Senator from Minnesota, former comedian Al Franken is asking congress to create a pilot program to provide service dogs for injured veterans.

I’ve written about these amazing dogs before and have seen first hand how they can help wounded soldiers, amputees and those who are paralized cope with both the physical demands of every day living and provide emotional comfort.

Read this story in the Minneapolis Star Tribune to find out more about Franken’s proposal and the story behind it.

Miss New York State Alyse Zwick and state Assemblywoman Amy Paulin will meet with southern Westchester veterans on Monday (July 20) to urge Gov. Paterson to sign a bill that would increase property tax exemptions for Cold War veterans and extend the property tax break to Cold Warriors who live in co-operative apartment buildings.

The meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Eastchester VFW post located at 433 White Plains Road.

Also on hand will be County Legislators Vito Pinto and Jim Maisano, both veterans and sponsors of the bill in Westchester.

In a press release, Paulin said she sponsored the bill and pushed it through in Albany because “all veterans who give their time to our country, both in times of war and times of peace, are at risk for harm and should be afforded equal treatment and benefits.”

Click here to read the bill on the state assembly website.

Zwick, a Westchester native, is a dedicated activist for veterans issues and spokesperson for the United Veterans Council, will be competing for the Miss America title in January.

“I’m delighted to be back home supporting veterans issues,’’ she said. “As Miss New York, my agenda is entirely directed toward the interests of our nation’s veterans. I urge Governor Paterson to sign this bill.”

The bill was sent to the governor on July 13. He has 10 days to sign it into law.

I joined the Army in 1976 – the first year of the “all volunteer” military following the end of the draft. A lot of women did too, in record numbers, and it quickly became obvious that changes had to be made.

Back then, sexist remarks and worse were pretty common and NCOs tended to spend more time chuckling about complaints than doing anything about them.

A generation later, while the military’s treatment of female service members has certainly improved, women veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan continue to encounter unequal and sometimes degrading situations at VA hospitals, according to a government audit released this week.

Click here to read the Associated Press report on the audit. The story quotes Patricia Hayes, chief consultant of the veterans strategic health care group at the VA, who said that the avency recognizes the care given to women isn’t as good as what’s offered to men, but it’s made changes and will continue to do so.

The story also notes that the VA provided health care to 281,000 women veterans in 2008, a 13 percent increase from 2006. The number of female veterans is expected to increase by 17 percent over the next 20 years.

Hayes said that changes underway “will build the system that will provide care equal to the health care needs of all America’s veterans, regardless of gender.” Hayes said.
Let’s hope so.

Fifty years ago this week, U.S. Army Maj. Dale Buis and Master Sgt. Chester Ovnand were in the mess hall watching a movie when “terrorists’’ attacked their compound in Bien Hoa, Vietnam, killing them both and making them the first casualties in what became the Vietnam War.

“It was a minor incident in a faraway place,’’ Stanley Karnow told the Associated Press.

Karnow was Time magazine’s chief Asian correspondent at the time, making is first trip to Saigon. He heard about the attack and wrote a small story.

Buis and Ovnand were remembered in a ceremony yesterday at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. You can read the entire AP report here.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that these two guys would be the first in a memorial to 50,000-some others,” Karnow said.

Few did. May they, and all who followed them, rest in peace.

The number of homeless female U.S. veterans has doubled during the last decade, according to a report in the Boston Globe.

Our friends at the VA told the newspaper that as more women serve in combat zones, the share of female veterans who end up homeless, while still relatively small at an estimated 6,500, has nearly doubled. Many have the added burden of being single mothers.

Click here to read the entire story.

Homelessness among veterans has been an issue in this country for decades. Makes you wonder what the government in general and the VA in particular are doing about it, other than reporting the numbers.