March 31, 2023
#VAFail: What is the VA hiding that it won’t release under the Freedom of Information Act?
The Department of Veterans Affairs continues to drag its feet on producing records requested under the Freedom of Information Act and now the subject of an ongoing lawsuit. The suit, filed by Americans for Prosperity Foundation in July 2021, seeks to know how the VA is calculating veterans’ appointment wait times and how the department… Read more »
March 29, 2023
Senate passes AUMF repeal bill in historic vote
The Iraq Authorizations for Use of Military Force have been on the books for decades, leaving an opening for military action not recently voted on by Congress. But those outdated and obsolete AUMFs are on their way out the door thanks to a Senate vote this week. Senators voted 66-30 to repeal the 1991 and… Read more »
March 23, 2023
#VAFail: Arizona veterans face long wait times at VA and unpaid bills from community care
In 2014, the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital was exposed for manipulating and hiding veterans’ medical appointment wait times. Thousands of veterans were found on secret wait lists that covered up the extended weeks and months veterans were waiting for care. Veterans were even dying while waiting on those secret lists. Nine years later, veterans in… Read more »
March 21, 2023
Q&A with CVA Policy Director Tyler Koteskey: A look back at the War in Iraq 20 years later
In 2003, the third-generation iPod debuted, Pirates of the Caribbean hit the big screen, the Cleveland Cavaliers drafted LeBron James, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California. The Iraq War also started that year. 20 years later, American troops are still being deployed to Iraq. To recognize the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War,… Read more »
March 21, 2023
Army combat medic: Tragedies of war follow our troops home
The war in Iraq took the lives of 4,500 American troops, and it’s taken even more here at home. “Suicide has killed more Global War on Terror veterans than combat,” Army combat medic Brian Fay said in a new video. “As a medic, I saw the worst of war. And that tragedy and loss doesn’t… Read more »
March 20, 2023
Those who served in Iraq deserve to see the end of the war. I know, I was there.
March 18th 2003, I arrived home from a late-night bartending shift in Queens. At work, I had been watching news reports of the bombing of the Hussein family compound, marking the start of the Iraq War. At home, a message was waiting on my answering machine: “Specialist Byrnes, report to the Manhattan Armory by 0900… Read more »
March 20, 2023
Iraq War vet says new military recruits ‘fighting the same battles as their parents’
A full generation of warfighters have seen combat since the start of the Iraq War in 2003. In a new video, U.S. Army and Navy Jason Beardsley points out that new military recruits are taking up arms to fight “the same battles as their parents or grandparents.” “The sacrifices have been noble and brave,” Jason… Read more »
