Hill discusses vet issues at Pentagon breakfast

A seamless transition from the military to civilian life for U.S. servicemembers was among the topics discussed by a Department of Defense official and American Legion National Commander Clarence Hill during a breakfast at the Pentagon this morning.

Hill said that after eating the conversation touched on issues such as, "The move to get electronic service records that can transition with the individual from cradle to grave. From the time they enlist in the military until the time they're finally done with the VA. So it will be a seamless transition for real," Hill said. "It will be the electronic age come to DoD and joined with VA."

Hill said they also discussed the need to identify the remains of missing servicemembers. "They are now finding that they have remains that they have extracted DNA from, but they have no matches," Hill said. "So now they have a big effort to get with families of those who have missing-in-action (servicemembers) and get DNA from a family member so they can identify more of these remains."

American Legion Auxiliary National President Rita Navarreté - whose organization is celebrating its 90th birthday today - also attended the breakfast, as did representatives from AMVETS, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Jewish War Veterans. Gen. James Conway, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, also was in attendance. The day also marks the birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Hill will visit with wounded servicemembers at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., this afternoon before giving an address at The Catholic University of America in Washington this evening.