Preparing to leave for Iraq, the North Carolina National Guard's Heavy Brigade Combat team said farewell to famly and friends and headed out. Among the team - a bomb clearing unit. [Island Packet / Hilton Head]

The new home for the Veterans Health archive might be Dayton Ohio. The Archive would be "the central location for all records, photos and information gathered by the VA over the years. It would be housed in two buildings." [Dayton Daily News]

Georgia had to cut their budget and they closed the Georgia War Veterans Home in Midgeville. Now four months later, some of them are doing well - and some not as well. [Macon Telegraph]

Army Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, formerly of West Point football, and served in Iraq is very pleased with the new "legs" that he's received at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He says "that they are the closest yet to "the feeling of a normal leg" since he lost both of his in Iraq almost two years ago." [Washington Post via Island Packet.]

Two Marines, trained in the retrieval "and care for the remains of troops killed in combat" have started a new business down in Georgia. Their new company cleans up biohazards.

They found "that 80 percent of families ended up cleaning up after a homicide or suicide," Litchenwaler said. "The reality is that, in most cases, your homeowner's insurance covers to pay someone like us to come clean it up." "[island Packet]

An article in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine says that traumatic brain injuries are being over-diagnosed by Veterans Affairs.

The authors, 2 Army mental health researchers, say  "the Pentagon and VA are relying on flawed science to identify what the Pentagon estimates may be up 360,000 cases of brain injury suffered by veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan" [USA Today]

Veterans group, The American Legion, had lunch with President Obama to hear about the initiatives. The Legion was especially approving of the new Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record, a record that starts when someone joins the military and continues after he or she leaves and is part of the Veterans Administration. [Medical News Today]

Jon Bland enlisted after 9/11, served an extended tour in Iraq seeing his fellows blown up, and was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army. He won a Bronze Star and was diagnosed with PTSD.

Then last week, he got  a letter from the Army: He's been recalled to fight in Afghanistan. [Wichita Eagle]

Retired General Eric K. Shinseki sees his mission, to serve veterans, as very personal.

'Many of the veterans he now serves were "the truly unbelievable heroes of World War II" who returned from Europe and the Pacific to provide leadership for the United States, including the military, he said. 

"We all stand on their shoulders," Secretary Shinseki said. "We do things today professionally that they taught us how to do."

He is committed to turning Veterans Affairs into a people-oriented department, capable of helping veterans as much as possible. [Air Force Link]

Veterans using multiple drug regimes are running into problems. Some taking multiple drugs 'Klonopin (an anti seizure/panic medication), Seroquel (an anti-psychotic medication) and Celexa (an anti-depressant)' for treatment of PTSD, have died. Here are two stories: the personal story of Tom Vande Burgt and his struggle, the other a look at Seroquel and the use of it in treating PTSD. [Charleston Gazette]