Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), the new chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, lost no time in setting priorities for the new Congress, vowing to avoid the marathon legislation session held just prior to the Christmas break by scheduling legislation markups by mid-May. If done, Senate votes on veterans’ legislation would occur in June. Akaka plans to hold his first hearing later this month to examine the joint effort by DOD and VA to ease the transition from active duty to veteran status. At an organizational meeting, he said that he feels “very strongly” that the cost of veterans’ benefits and services for those who have served in the war on terror “must be treated as an ongoing cost of war.”
As the Air Force readied for its June 21-22 strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the service was also putting its Agile Combat Employment strategy into action, dispersing combat aircraft and Airmen from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in preparation for a possible Iranian retaliatory attack. Some defense experts say…
