Remember this? The VA computers had programming errors going back 12 years and denied some surviving spouses their benefits. Congressman Mike Thompson of California is urging his constituents to check with the VA to see if they were affected. The VA wants to get retroactive pay to survivors by the end of January. [Redwood Times]

One bright spot for Pennsylvania's Erie VA Medical center is that it'll have an additional '29 examinations rooms and a new main entrance' when the expansion is finished. This will enable them to serve more outpatients. The hospital says that its outpatient visits increased from 220,000 to about 240,000 in fiscal 2008. [Erie Times-News]

Unless I run across some good articles, I'm out until before New Year's. Thanks for reading.

Computer glitches at the Veteran Administration has denied widows of war veterans millions of dollars over the past 12 years. Apparently some of the money has even been seized from the elderly widows accounts. Unaware of the problem until recently, the Veterans Administration has 'pledged to work quickly to give back the pension and disability checks - ranging from $100 to more than $2,500 - that hundreds of thousands of widows or widowers should have received during the month of their spouse's death.'  [Associated Press]

Last year Congress ordered the Pentagon to survey 'to accept appeals from wounded and injured troops.So far, officials have yet to examine a single case.' 

This sad case is brought to you from the Associated Press.

Okay, so it broke over the weekend, but I just got back to my post.

Retired General Eric Shinseki was nominated by President-Elect Obama to be the Secretary for Veterans Affairs. Shinseki, who as the former Army Chief-of-Staff, is also a Vietnam War veterans with combat wounds.

<block>Shinseki, if confirmed, will lead an agency that Rep. Bob Filner, the head of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said last month that the VA created a “culture of dishonesty” over the way it has treated some of the more than 350,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans under its care. </block> [The Public Record]

Four years after coming back from Iraq, Sgt. 1st Class Chad Stephens is looking forward to returning. His time in civilian life was rough, and he suffered from PTSD as well as other stresses. His wife feels differently - that he should stay.  Stephens was profiled a year ago.  [McClatchy Newspapers}