The Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center, Inc. (PVMSEC) received a $60,000 grant to expand its capacity to train women veterans for green jobs. This grant is part of the Moving From Red Green: Working Women in the Green Economy, a Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) Foundation initiative funded by the Walmart Foundation. Today women make up 17% of the armed forces, a number that has risen considerably since the Vietnam War. As women are discharged from the military and begin to transition back into civilian life some face many barriers to obtaining employment. Reports from the Department of Defense Mental Health Task Force highlight the growing mental health problems that troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing. Nearly 50 percent of National Guard members and reservists report symptoms of mental disorders and many veterans find it difficult to access military-provided clinical care and support groups. This grant will address those barriers and give women veterans the necessary resources to obtain a successful career in the green industry.

“We would like to thank BPWF and Walmart for giving us this great opportunity to make an impact on female veterans’ lives.” said PVMSEC’s CEO, Edward Lowry. “We believe the emerging green economy offers immense employment potential for women veterans. Many women who serve in the armed forces are drawn to and have experience serving in non-traditional jobs; they are well suited to pursue careers in the green economy and we are extremely excited to start working on this initiative.”

If you would like more information contact us at: 215-923-2600.

A Guide for Military Personnel
This guide is for service members returning from deployment and was developed by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. It contains information to help military personnel understand what to expect when returning from a war zone, and to help them to better adapt back to home life.

Reintegration is an adjustment for all involved. This information aims to make this process as smooth as possible and covers:

 A description of the common reactions that occur following deployment to a war zone
 Information about possible problems to watch out for, including PTSD
 How expectations about homecoming may not be the same for service members and family members
 The effects that war zone stress can have on your family and work life
 What you can do to help yourself with readjustment
 What help is available and what it involves

Download the Military Personal Guide PDF File Here

A Guide for Families of Military Personnel
As a military family member you want to understand what to expect during reintegration following time in a war zone, and to help your loved one adapt back to home life. Reintegration is an adjustment for all involved.

This information, developed by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, aims to make this process as smooth as possible and covers:

 A description of the common reactions that occur following deployment to a war zone
 How expectations about homecoming may not be the same for service members and family members
 Ways to talk and listen to one another in order to re-establish trust, closeness and openness
 Information about possible problems to watch out for
 How to offer and find assistance for your loved ones
 What help is available and what it involves

Download the Guide for Families of Military Personnel PDF File Here

March 08, 2010 - Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court is getting involved in the legal fight over the anti-gay protesters who show up at military funerals with inflammatory messages like "Thank God for dead soldiers."

The court agreed Monday to consider whether the protesters' message, no matter how provocative and upsetting, is protected by the First Amendment. Members of a Kansas-based church have picketed military funerals to spread their belief that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

The justices will hear an appeal from the father of a Marine killed in Iraq to reinstate a $5 million verdict against the protesters, after they picketed outside his son's funeral in Maryland.

A jury in Baltimore awarded Albert Snyder damages for emotional distress and invasion of privacy, but a federal appeals court threw out the verdict. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the signs contained "imaginative and hyperbolic rhetoric" protected by the First Amendment.

March 08, 2010 - Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran --- Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday called the official version of the Sept. 11 attacks a "big lie" used by the U.S. as an excuse for the war on terror, state media reported.

Ahmadinejad's comments, made during an address to Intelligence Ministry staff, come amid escalating tensions between the West and Tehran over its disputed nuclear program. They show that Iran has no intention of toning itself down even with tighter sanctions looming because of its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.

"September 11 was a big lie and a pretext for the war on terror and a prelude to invading Afghanistan," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by state TV. He called the attacks a "complicated intelligence scenario and act."

The Iranian president has questioned the official U.S. version of the Sept. 11 attacks before, but this is the first time he ventured to label it a "big lie."

March 05, 2010 - Associated Press

WASHINGTON --- A Californian man who shot two Pentagon police officers before he was mortally wounded in a hail of return fire expressed resentment of the U.S. government and suspicions over the 9/11 attacks in his writings, it has emerged.

John Patrick Bedell's death was confirmed early Friday, hours after the Thursday evening assault, as authorities searched for a motive behind the brazen attack. The two officers, grazed by bullets, were treated in a hospital.

The attack unfolded at the subway entrance to the massive Defense Department headquarters, as an eerie calm and silence were broken by the explosion of gunfire.

"He just reached in his pocket, pulled out a gun and started shooting" at point-blank range, said Richard Keevill, chief of Pentagon police. "He walked up very cool. He had no real emotion on his face."

The Pentagon officers returned fire with semiautomatic weapons. Bedell was taken to the hospital with critical injuries. Beverly Fields, chief of staff of the D.C. medical examiner's office, confirmed his death and said his body arrived at her office shortly after midnight.

March 05, 2010 - Military.com | by Bryant Jordan

The sudden suspension of an education program for military spouses has sparked a significant bipartisan congressional response intended to get the program back on track. In a March 2 letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, 67 members of Congress wrote that suspending the Military Spouse Career Advancement Account program "without notice is not the way to support those who sacrifice so much to make our military what it is today."

"Many military spouses have planned their careers and lives around the assumption that this program would continue without interruption," the lawmakers wrote. "We are concerned about the practical impact of this pause."

The program, known as MyCAA, is designed to help spouses enter a trade or profession that carries good employment opportunities regardless of where they move in the course of their service member's military career. Relevant fields include construction, education, financial services, health services, information technology and real estate. The program pays up to $6,000 in tuition assistance for approved education programs.

March 04, 2010 - Stars and Stripes | by Heath Druzin

KANE IZAT, Afghanistan -- The airborne Soldiers of Company B walk. Then they walk some more. Through snow and mud, across apple orchards and frigid rivers, in the shadow of menacing, snow-capped peaks, when the Soldiers need to get somewhere, the road is almost never an option.

Roadside bombs have been the biggest killer in Afghanistan for coalition troops, and as armor has improved, the bombs have gotten bigger and more sophisticated.

Capt. Kirby Jones, the commander of the 1st Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment's Company B, sees a simple solution to this: Never drive. Anywhere.

"We almost always walk," he said. "I see two benefits to that: You get to interact with the people and you don't get blown up."

Jones, 31, of Bellingham, Wash., and his company of Soldiers, under the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, are based at Combat Outpost Nerkh, perched more than 7,000 feet up in the shadow of 11,000-foot peaks in northern Wardak province. Soldiers across Wardak, much of it with similar terrain, have also largely eschewed vehicles.

March 04, 2010 - Associated Press

BAGHDAD - A string of deadly blasts shattered an early round of voting in Iraq Thursday, killing 17 people and highlighting the fragile nature of the country's security gains ahead of crucial parliamentary elections this Sunday.

Iraq security forces were out in full force, trying to protect early voters in an election that will determine who will lead the country through the crucial period of the U.S. troop drawdown and help decide whether the country can overcome its deep sectarian divisions.

But three explosions - a rocket attack and two suicide bombings - showed the ability of insurgents to carry out bloody attacks. They have promised to disrupt the voting with violence.

"Terrorists wanted to hamper the elections, thus they started to blow themselves up in the streets," said Deputy Interior Minister Ayden Khalid Qader, responsible for election-related security across the country.

March 04, 2010 - Military.com | by Bryant Jordan

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., on Wednesday released the text of a bill to fully repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rules that bar homosexuals from serving openly in the U.S. military.

Lieberman's action came amid growing concerns by some Republican lawmakers over moving on repeal before the Pentagon has completed a study to determine what impact it would have on the force.

"Secretary [Robert] Gates said he would have this study done by the end of the year, so I have a goal to have Don't Ask, Don't Tell repealed by the end of the year," Lieberman said.

The "Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2010" was released to the press Wednesday only a few hours before a subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee heard testimony from administration and military officials over the study ordered by Gates.