VA Payouts for Wrongful Deaths At Fort Hood Wednesday, President Barack Obama restated his commitment “to step up our efforts to reach our troops and veterans” who are suffering mentally and emotionally. The Department of Veterans Affairs will be at the vanguard for this effort, but a recent report by The Center for Investigative Reporting has found that the VA has wrongfully turned away veterans from mental health treatment. The report found that the VA has distributed $200 million in 978 separate wrongful death cases since 2001, according to a report recently published by the Center for Investigative Reporting. Aaron Glantz covers veterans and domestic military issues for The Center for Investigative Reporting and wrote the report. He joins us to talk more about veterans’ struggle to get help from the VA. 

LINKS:

• VA's Opiate Overload Feeds Veterans' Addictions, Overdose Deaths
• The VA's Pain Pill Habit
• Full list of CIR reports by Aaron Glantz
• Again, Obama Offers Comfort At Fort Hood After Soldiers Are Killed

BOOKS BY AARON GLANTZ:

• The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America's Veterans
• Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations
• How America Lost Iraq

The Greeks Road On The Road To World War I To commemorate the 100-year anniversary of World War I, the Hellenic Studies Program at Sacramento State University has organized an exhibit highlighting the Greek and Greek-American experience, “The Greeks on the Road to World War I”. The exhibit will highlight the parallel journey of the Greeks both in the United States and Greece as their respective countries enter the war. Beginning with images of life in Athens at the turn of the twentieth century, visitors will be experience the “road” that ends with the Paris Peace Conference.

Additionally, the exhibit will examine early twentieth century culture, Greek emigration to the United States, Greek immigrant experience in the United States, Balkan Wars, Greek and Greek-American participation in World War I, and the Paris Peace Conference. Overall, the exhibit will emphasize the significant contributions of the Greeks in this ‘war to end all wars.”

Sound Advice Jonathan Carabba, co-founder of Submerge Magazine, a Sacramento-based arts and entertainment publication, brings us this week's Sound Advice.