Live from Capitol Hill: House VA Subcommittees to Hear Testimony on Sexual Trauma

This morning, the House Veterans Affairs subcommittees on Health and Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs hosted a special joint hearing on evaluating military sexual trauma issues. To view video from this morning's hearing at 10 a.m., Click Here.

AMVETS National Deputy Legislative Director Christina Roof submitted testimony for the record and she was on hand for the morning's hearing. To read Roof's written statement, Click Here.

Military sexual trauma, or MST, though not gender exclusive, predominantly affects today's female veterans.

Roof's remarks centered on current shortfalls withing the Veterans Health Administration, or VHA, confusion on definitions between DoD and VA, and potential solutions to help today's veterans exposed to MST receive proper care through VHA.

(Image: Witnesses testify at this morning's House VA hearing on military sexual trauma. Photo by Ryan Gallucci.)

This Week at American Veteran

This week at American Veteran we will recap Friday's roll-out of the new AMVETS Warrior Transition Workshops, where Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) joined AMVETS National Commander Duane J. Miskulin and AMVETS' new partners from Freedom & Honor to introduce the new transitional tool.

We will also follow AMVETS to Capitol Hill, where AMVETS National Deputy Legislative Director Christina Roof will testify before the House Veterans Affairs Committee on military sexual trauma. The committee will also host hearings on information security within VA and the VA home loan program, which American Veteran will follow.

This week, we will also finally post on Camp Hope's recent open house and we will highlight the upcoming issue of American Veteran magazine, which should be arriving in your mailboxes next week.

American Veteran will also continue to follow developments within the military and veterans' communities, keeping up to date on issues such as the purported medal for combat restraint and the possible new Georgia law, allowing veterans to annotate "PTSD" on drivers' licenses.

As always, we're eager to hear from posts and departments around the country, so please send photos and stories, and please feel free to leave your comments.