Two veterans groups—Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United in Truth, Inc.—have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs for “shameful failures” in the care of “hundreds of thousands of men and women who have suffered grievous injuries fighting in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” Lawyers for the two groups filed the 73-page complaint on July 23 with the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Attorney Sid Wolinsky with Disability Rights Advocates, the group representing the veterans, calls the lawsuit “unprecedented.” He said, “It is the first class action lawsuit to directly challenge the VA’s unconscionable backlog of claims,” endless wait time for mental health care, and adequacy of care for post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is one of two signature injuries—the other is traumatic brain injury—seen in troops returning from Southwest Asia operations. According to the lawsuit, the VA backlog now exceeds 600,000 claims and decisions can take more than 10 years for final resolution.
Active-Duty Airmen only have a few days left to submit an official waist-to-height ratio into the Air Force’s new online application. But the service clarified July 23 that this first body composition measurement is not meant to be scored as part of the new Physical Fitness Readiness Assessment, or PFRA