Defense Finance and Accounting Service is assessing how much money roughly 39,000 diabled veterans lost by being left out of the "problem-plagued" VA Retro Pay program. Other veterans also had mistakes in how much money they didn't get.

Read it and weep. [Stars and Stripes]

The Inspector General says that some Veterans Affairs managers in Pittsburgh figured by holding up some claims for a month, they could get an extra $300 in bonuses. The program for the bonuses has now been eliminated.No veterans were harmed - except having to wait an extra month for their money.  [Pittsburgh Tribune Review]

With a rise in suicides, the 101st Airborne is asking that soldiers who have having suicidal thoughts to please ask for help, so that they can be helped. [CNN]

Sorry to be delayed on this. President Obama has nominated former Sen. Max Cleland to take over the American Battle Monuments Commission.

Sen. Cleland, a multiple amputee due to the Vietnam War wounds, was the senator from Georgia. [Examiner.com]

Economic Opportunity Subcommittee Chairwoman Stephanie Herseth Sandlin testified last week that there is a troubling lack of hiring of returning veterans by Federal contractors. Despite the laws that say veterans and disabled veterans should be considered equal when hiring, there are concerns being voiced by veterans officials. [Imperial Valley News}

Whee! The VA is getting help as the federal workforce is beefed up.

"The Veterans Affairs Department will bring on about 9,800 new employees, including 5,700 doctors, nurses and other medical services personnel to help treat wounded veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. "  [Federal Times}

Winding its way through the Texas legislature is a bill that will create a scratch-off lottery ticket to help veterans.

Now it faces going to the Texas Senate. The veterans community is bestirring itself to make this happen.

The proceeds will go to nursing home care, family and marital counseling. [Fort Worth Star-Telegram]

Congress is now asking why veterans, who may have been exposed to various diseases such as HIV or hepatitis, haven't responded to the Miami VA hospital notifications. Sen. Burr of North Carolina has asked for hearings. [Miami Herald]

Military families are unnoticed casualties of war, and Kristina Kaufmann wants to bring attention to that fact.

Kaufman, herself a military wife, knows that many ' many... feel embittered, powerless and disconnected from the Army in which we and our husbands serve. ' She has several suggestions on how to improve life for the famlies coping with war, whether it's injured family members or soldiers on deployment. [Washington Post]