Mailing state, regional and national championship medals to the Junior Shooting Sports National Tournament individual and team champions. The individual national champions will be determined at the 21st American Legion Junior Shooting Sports National Championships on August 2-7, 2011, in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Legion staff is attending a meeting of the Department of Defense Task Force on the Care, Management, and Transition of Recovering Wounded, Ill, and Injured Members of the Armed Forces. Past National Commander David Rehbein is a member of the 14-person task force, while staffer Brian Buckler, the Legion's Medical Evaluation Board/Physical Evaluation Board representative, is speaking at the session.
The Senate Veterans Affairs Committee is conducting a hearing concerning the return of service members to the civilian world. The “Seamless Transition – Improving Interagency Collaboration” is being monitored by the Legion’s Legislative Division.
Representatives of the Legion’s Legislative Division are attending a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing titled “Strategic Implications of Pakistan and the Region.” In light of recently intensified tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan over the Osama bin Laden operation, former National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones Jr. will testify.
Verna Jones, director of the Legion’s Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation division, is in Madison, Wis., for the National Association of State Women's Veterans Coordinators’ Annual Training Conference.
The American Legion Child Welfare Foundation (CWF) is accepting grant applications for 2012. CWF grants provide nonprofit organizations with a means to educate the public about the needs of children across this nation.
Legion Legislative staff is meeting with representatives of fellow service organizations and other officials to explore a Government Accountability Office report on the implementation and effectiveness of advance appropriations. An advance appropriation is one made to become available one year or more ahead of the year for which an appropriations act (budget) is passed. The Legion fought for years for the institution of this practice with regard to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Legislative Division is attending a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing entitled “Steps Needed for a Successful 2014 Transition in Afghanistan.” With the death of bin Laden and successes by the Afghanistan government and military, pressures will mount to change the role and mission of the United States within Afghanistan.
Staff of The American Legion Boys Nation and American Legion Auxiliary Girls Nation programs are meeting to coordinate plans and procedures for making Congressional appointments for delegates during their programs this summer.
Jacob B. Gadd, deputy director for Healthcare, is attending an Easter Seals press conference in Silver Spring, Md. Easter Seals has partnered with the Department of Veterans Affairs and has developed national training for VA’s caregiver program.
