BREAKING: OIG Reports on Vets' Service Dogs; This Week at American Veteran

BREAKING: This afternoon VA's Office of the Inspector General released a report on VA's service dog benefits for wounded veterans, confirming some of AMVETS' concerns voiced in recent letters to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki.

In the report, VA's Inspector General recommended that VHA immediately publish its criteria for service dog benefits--a recommendation AMVETS has been calling for since March. The benefit, which was established in 2001 prior to 9/11 still has not been properly codified by VA and, according to OIG, only eight eligible veterans have successfully received their entitlements as a result.

In working on this issue, AMVETS has discovered hundreds of eligible veterans who have either been denied their entitlements or simply never heard of the benefit. We'll follow this story closely with more to come this week.

This Week at American Veteran:

This week at American Veteran, we're focusing on publishing the summer issue of American Veteran magazine, so if you have any last minute submissions for letters-to-the-editor or the Keeping Posted section, please submit them by close-of-business tomorrow.

The new issue should hit mailboxes prior to the 66th annual AMVETS National Convention, taking place August 7-14 in Louisville. This year, AMVETS is also hosting its 2010 Symposium for 21st Century Veterans, and all participant registrations for the symposium are due to AMVETS National Legislative Director Ray Kelley ASAP.