Just back from a recent trip to Iraq, VA Secretary James Peake, told Washington-based defense reporters Thursday (see above) that electronic health records are being kept very early on in the treatment process for wounded service members and are being passed along to better prepare medical personnel in Germany and back in the US. “I look at these two systems as a continuity,” Peake said of the DOD and VA health care apparatuses, adding that he hopes to see the use of electronic records increase even more. Eliminating paperwork will be a critical aspect of reducing the enormous backlog the VA is experiencing in processing disability and benefit claims, he said. A younger, tech-savvy workforce will be better able to determine if an injury is related to military service, he noted. Calling the claims bureaucracy a “1945 process,” Peake said 65 percent of the claims process is spent just gathering information on paper, a process that could be immeasurably helped with greater information sharing between DOD and VA.
B-1 Bomber Task Force Deploys to Japan
Oct. 18, 2025
A quartet of B-1Bs from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas have landed at Misawa AB, Japan, likely for a series of exercises with Japanese, U.S. and Australian forces.
