BY DENNIS HOWLAND, CHAIR

Wishing each of you a blessed, happy, and successful New Year.

As we look ahead to 2026, there is still a lot of work to be done, veterans to serve, and a multitude of high-visibility programs we can participate in. In addition to the usual celebrations and observances, many more events will be available as our communities celebrate the 250th birthday of the USA.

Most communities and states have planned 250th birthday celebrations; many will take place in early July. It is important that we try to find out what is happening in our areas and make an effort to be a part of the planning and carrying out of this important celebration. If your community has nothing planned, take the lead. I am confident that all VVA members are leaders who can develop a project for their communities to celebrate the nation’s big birthday.

If VVA is an important part of this year’s celebrations, it can have a lasting effect on our communities, adding to our legacy. Everything we do that puts Vietnam Veterans of America in high visibility over the next couple years also will add to our legacy. So now is the time to start planning. It is important that you report and provide photos of your events to the editors of The VVA Veteran. They could be used in future issues of the magazine and on vva.org. With the 2026 congressional midterm elections coming up, I suggest that VVA members familiarize themselves with veterans’ issues and contact their members of Congress to encourage them to enact legislation important to all veterans.

Make it a chapter project. Let your members of Congress know that there are more than 90,000 VVA members, including more than 1,500 women veterans and over 11,000 AVVA members, when you urge them to pass veterans’ legislation, particularly laws that would benefit all veterans. May all your 2026 Public Affairs projects be successful.

BY SANDIE WILSON, CHAIR

Eight years of VVA educating and lobbying helped produce a law signed in 2016 by President Barack Obama requiring the Department of Veterans Affairs to move forward on research related to the health of descendants of veterans with toxic exposure. The law, H.R. 6416, the Jeff Miller/Richard Blumenthal Veterans Health Care and Benefits Improvement Act, directs the VA to contract with the National Academy of Medicine to assess the science and feasibility of research into descendants’ health outcomes. If the assessment finds further research is feasible, VA must establish an advisory board that includes veterans and fund non-VA research entities to conduct the work.

In 2018, the National Academies published Gulf War and Health, Volume 11: Generational Health Effects of Serving in the Gulf War, sponsored by the VA. That report assessed potential generational effects for 1990–91 Gulf War and Post-9/11 veterans and laid out a framework for longer-term studies. It did not cover the descendants of Vietnam veterans, reflecting the project’s defined scope, not a change in policy. To date, meaningful follow-on research under the 2016 law has not materialized, and the VA has not publicly launched the required external studies. VVA continues to press for full implementation.

There is good news on Gulf War illness. More than 15 years of government and academic work and research, including a 2022 genetic study, has provided strong evidence linking low-level sarin exposure from the Khamisiyah demolitions in Iraq to Gulf War illness. And in October 2025, the ICD-10-CM added a dedicated diagnostic code for Gulf War illness, improving clinical recognition and claims processing.

At our Agent Orange Committee session during last summer’s VVA Convention, Dr. Rudy Johnson, who directs VA’s Military Exposures Research Program, briefed us on VA’s plans for the Ranch Hand biospecimens and data and promised a written progress update in September. We have not yet received that report; we will keep pushing for timely transparency and access for qualified researchers.

Beyond the VA, university teams are advancing work that matters to veterans and communities. For example, Michigan-based researchers have been developing PFAS treatment and plasma-based destruction technologies for contaminated water, promising steps that still need scaling and deployment to reach homes and facilities.

Finally, VA staffing remains a concern. In December 2025, the department announced plans to eliminate tens of thousands of unfilled health-care positions, with earlier watchdog reporting documenting severe staffing shortages across every VA medical center. Many of us are seeing fewer mental-health providers at our local VAMCs as these gaps persist.

Your input is needed. Please email a national VVA officer and tell them which national-level functions must continue, and how we can work together to ensure sustained research, care, and benefits for veterans and their families.

• 2016 - Congress acts: The Jeff Miller/Richard Blumenthal Act requires VA to seek a National Academy of Medicine (NAM) assessment on descendants’ health effects from toxic exposure; if research is deemed feasible, VA must form an advisory board (with veterans) and fund outside research.

• 2018 - NAM framework: Gulf War & Health, Vol. 11 (VA-sponsored) evaluates potential generational effects for 1990–91 Gulf War and Post-9/11 veterans and outlines how longer-term studies could proceed (Scope did not include Vietnam War veterans’ descendants).

• 1990–91 - Who was there: About 697,000 U.S. troops deployed to the Gulf theater (Desert Shield/Desert Storm).

• 2022 - Etiology evidence: A large peer-reviewed study finds a strong gene-environment link between low-level sarin exposure (Khamisiyah) and Gulf War illness.

• Oct. 1, 2025 - New diagnosis code: ICD-10-CM T75.830 - (“Gulf war illness”) takes effect in FY2026 coding updates, improving recognition, tracking, and claims.

• What’s still missing: Public launch of the advisory board and extramural research for descendants under the 2016 law. (NAM assessment completed; implementation steps remain to be seen.)

BY KATE O'HARE-PALMER, CHAIR

The 119th Congress had the fewest bills passed (38) in history last year. The Women Veterans Committee is reviewing the House bills that were introduced and sent to the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has reintroduced the Jax Act, H.R.1763/H.R.6819, a bill that seeks long-overdue recognition and care for women veterans who served on U.S. Army Special Operations Command’s Cultural Support Teams (CSTs). These teams deployed in dangerous and sensitive missions, supported by Special Operations forces and engaging directly with local female populations in areas where male soldiers could not.

Named in honor of Jacyln Scott, a CST veteran and current board member of the Special Operations Association of America, the Jax Act aims to ensure that these veterans receive the ranks, benefits (including VA healthcare), and recognition they earned through their combat service. They were often excluded from formal recognition and access to VA benefits due to outdated policies that failed to account for the evolving roles of women in combat zones.

This reminds me of the rules that were in effect years ago for women during the Vietnam War who served in-country. We were not permitted to receive mental health care at the VA after our service because we were told that women were not “supposed to be in combat zones.”

H.R.586, the Vietnam Veterans Liver Fluke Cancer Study Act, requires the VA to conduct an epidemiological study and report on the prevalence of cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) in veterans who served in Vietnam during the war. This disease can lay dormant for 40 years before showing symptoms.

H.R. 1860, the Women Veterans Cancer Care Coordination Act, requires the VA to hire or designate a Regional Breast Cancer and Gynecologic Cancer Care Coordinator for each Veteran Integrated Service Network. Such coordinators must coordinate care between VA clinicians and breast and gynecologic cancer community care providers. This is because many VA providers must outsource to the community due to lack of providers in their areas. Many women veterans have not applied for benefits for these illnesses and need to be informed.

Another area for us to review includes geriatric care for the VVA demographic. Our combined efforts with the VVA Health Care Committee will continue.

Until next time, take care of each other and thanks for supporting women veterans.

BY DOMINICK YEZZO, CHAIR

More than half of U.S. states now contract with for-profit companies to manage correctional facilities. The corporations that contract with state and federal governments to provide services to people in custody, including veterans, are shareholder-driven, Wall Street-traded, and take in billions of dollars each year.

The VINJUS Committee’s concerns about private contractors are twofold: (1) the goods and services they provide are often cut-rate; and (2) many prison management contracts include minimum-occupancy guarantees. That means that the more people who are locked up, the greater the profit—which can incentivize longer terms of incarceration.

An estimated 107,000 veterans are in state or federal prisons. The average annual cost per person in prison varies widely; recent estimates are $30,000–$60,000. Daily costs likewise vary. Some contracted federal facilities report per-diems around $100, while many state facilities are far higher.

This is big business funded by state and federal taxpayers, who are paying private operators such as CoreCivic, The GEO Group, Trinity Services Group, Aramark, and Centurion Health. These firms have faced persistent complaints and lawsuits over poor living conditions and inadequate healthcare.

Across the country, major failures in contractual obligations, such as healthcare, food, clothing, safe housing, and rehabilitative programming, have been documented because the incentives which these profit-driven companies prioritize reward the lowest-cost inputs.

Although the VINJUS Committee cannot solve the national question of prison privatization, we can address how it affects veterans behind bars. Centurion Health, which holds contracts to manage prison healthcare, including for veterans, has drawn many complaints for failing to provide appropriate care. The VVA Florida State Council and many Florida chapters have long stood with veterans incarcerated. They have challenged Centurion Health for failing to deliver adequate care. Letters detailing inadequate care, resulting in serious harm and death, have unfortunately not produced any changes.

We intend to do what VVA does best: enlist the Government Affairs Committee as a partner to draft a Veteran Inmates’ Bill of Rights; to identify a congressional sponsor; and to lobby Congress to make it the law of the land. We ask AVVA to join VINJUS in the research and development required to move this forward.

VINJUS recognizes that many veterans incarcerated struggle with post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury, invisible wounds that can impair judgment and lead to criminal behavior.

We are not “soft on crime,” but we keep our Founding Principle’s vow: “Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another.”

By GRANT COATES, CHAIR

There are now 1,566 Americans listed by the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency as missing and unaccounted-for from the Vietnam War: Vietnam - 1,232; Laos - 279; Cambodia - 48; Peoples Republic of China territorial waters - 7. These numbers could change due to investigations resulting in changed locations of loss. The last announced identification was on September 25, 2025.

According to DPAA, despite the lapse of appropriations that forced the agency to cancel planned Joint Field Activities in Vietnam, two Vietnamese recovery teams made some progress in the effort to account for missing American service personnel. The teams continued to excavate challenging recovery sites, and one team recovered possible remains.

“The two Vietnamese recovery teams are conducting the mission due to prior year funding,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jason Kim, the DPAA Detachment 2 commander. “These difficult sites, characterized by karst mountains, steep hills, and dense jungle, highlight the significant contributions of our Vietnamese counterparts.”

DPAA received possible remains of a U.S. servicemember from the Vietnam War on December 13 last year in a repatriation ceremony from the Vietnam Office for Seeking Missing Persons at the Gia Lam Airport in Hanoi.

At the ceremony, the 171st repatriation ceremony held by the two countries, the Vietnamese handed over remains thought to be associated with a U.S. Air Force F-105 crash site in Lào Cai Province.

DPAA announced on December 30 that the agency identified the remains of 231 service members from World War II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars in the fiscal year ending September 30, the largest total in recent years.

“Fiscal year 2025 was a record year for us, really a tremendous result,” Capt. Meghan Bodnar, DPAA deputy director for operations, said December 30 at the agency’s lab at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii. Bodnar went on to say that new DNA techniques, progress on existing projects, and other factors accounted for the agency’s record-breaking year.

VVA’s Veterans Initiative Program continues its mission. Your help is needed.

Objects taken from the battlefields of Vietnam are more than souvenirs or war trophies. The items may help name and determine the location of war dead in Vietnam.

Maps, stories, after-action reports, pictures, and military items may have a story of interest to both American and Vietnamese researchers trying to recover remains from the battlefields.

Please contact the Veterans Initiative at:
Veterans Initiative Program
Vietnam Veterans of America
8719 Colesville Rd., Suite 100
Silver Spring, MD 20910
vi@vva.org

By KEN ROSE, NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVE

As we enter 2026, outbreaks of flu and other respiratory infections are sweeping across many states. At VA Medical Centers and Clinics, flu is the main concern. Volunteers are required to get flu and Covid shots that are provided at the VA free of charge. VVA volunteers are exposed to out-patients coming in for treatment. The major concern is at the VA nursing homes on campus. Some of them have already limited access to volunteers to protect their delicate population.

Flu shots for the general population are widely available, but far too many people are not getting the shots due to a lack of encouragement from government health services and new Department of Health and Human Services policies.

Volunteers should look for increasing restrictions on access and should mask up if they are coming in close contact with people and are concerned about their health.

At many VA food pantries, employees have been fired and veterans are facing food insecurity. Volunteers are sometimes detailed with checking expiration dates on donated food because people with good intentions don’t always check dates as they pull stuff off their home pantry shelves to donate. It has recently come to my attention that there is a problem with the VA’s monitoring of VVA volunteers at National Cemeteries. The VA is reporting very low numbers of VVA volunteers, so it is important for our Volunteers and Representatives to check with their VA Volunteer offices to make sure their hours are being reported correctly.

I have received e-mails from VVA members and VA Volunteers. Your comments are welcome and I will try to address all concerns. Feel free to contact me at krose@vva.org or by phone, 215-527-3494.

Thank you and may you all have a happy and healthy New Year.

By GUMERSINDO GOMEZ, CHAIR

Retired Maj. James Capers, Jr., enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1966, starting what would become a legendary career that overcame obstacles and broke barriers on and off the battlefield. Simply put, Maj. Capers was one of the greatest Marines to ever serve.

He excelled as a member of the 3rd Force Reconnaissance Co. of the 3rd Marine Division’s 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, breaking training records and participating in 64 long-range reconnaissance patrols and five major campaigns in the Vietnam War. He was a natural leader and father figure to the men of Team Broadminded, which was routinely selected to go on dangerous and clandestine missions in Vietnam.

That included a POW rescue mission, amphibious assaults along the DMZ, the recovery of a B-57 rumored to have a nuclear bomb, and search and destroy patrols.

A soft-spoken man, his medals include the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars with V devices, three Purple Hearts, the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry, a joint Service Commendation Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, and the Navy Commendation Medal. Maj. Capers also has the distinction of being the first African American to command a Marine Recon company and the first enlisted African American Marine Officer to receive a battlefield commission.

In August 2025, as Chair of the VVA Minority Affairs Committee, I was approached by a team that has been working with Congress, the Pentagon, and the White House to award Maj. Capers the Medal of Honor for heroism for his actions leading his team on a recon mission against a regimental-sized enemy force in March and April 1967 near Phú Loc. On October 15, 2025, VVA President Tom Burke, at the behest of the Minority Affairs Committee, wrote a letter to the Secretary of Defense, to support that effort. In May 2025, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) introduced a bill, H.R.3377, to authorize the President to award the Medal of Honor to Maj Capers. But that bill has languished in Congress. The Minority Affairs Committee will not give up until Maj. Capers receives his MOH. Please contact your members of Congress and ask them to support H.R.3377.

By CHUCK ODOM, CHAIR

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We are looking forward to the New Year, anticipating a year of successful projects and the completion of our goals.

The Finance Committee’s goals are to help the VVA department directors do the best job to stay on budget; to foster communication within our team and across departments; and to be as inclusive and transparent as possible with all financial decisions.

We have nearly finished the annual budget review, having looked at every cost center’s line items, and believe a balanced budget is possible. It will be a struggle at times, but it can be done.

This first Budget Review for the majority of the team was an eye opener and we cannot heap enough praise on the department directors. They were open and willing to work with us and answer any questions we had.

I was impressed, as always, with the depth and breadth of knowledge that VVA Treasurer Dottie Barickman has and with respect to her insights into all aspects of finance in this organization.

I was also impressed with Anthony Powell, VVA’s Director of Finance and Accounting, and Quentin Butcher, the Director of Fundraising and Development. The December Budget Review process was a marathon and these two gentlemen spent almost every minute with us as we worked.

Committee members John Margowski, Charlie Hobbs, Dennis Howland, Dan Stenvold, Liz Cannon, Marc Goodell, and Terry Courville made a one hundred percent effort at perfection with their input.

By DICK SOUTHERN, CHAIR

We are entering a new year, one in which we will increase our membership. Can we increase the membership numbers to 94,000-plus? Yes, we can.

VVA’s founding principle, “Never Again Will One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another,” applies to us as well as other generations. So, in recruiting, remember that one in three American males aged 65 and above is a Vietnam War veteran.

The statistics underscore the importance of ongoing outreach and recruitment efforts to continue tapping into the large veteran population that would benefit from joining VVA. Many prospective members are waiting for you to invite them to join as life members.

The committee remains available to help you recruit members. We are a membership organization that helps veterans and their families lead better lives by working to enact legislation that ensures benefits for military service. Our members also provide services to their communities through charity work and volunteer time.

We continue to grow with two prospective new chapters applying for VVA charters. We are averaging some 200-plus new members each month. Life membership is a bargain and the best price to join any veterans service organization anywhere in the world.

Keep up your recruiting efforts.

If you have any questions or need help in membership matters, please email me at dick.southern@gmail.com.

By THOMAS HALL, CHAIR

As we begin the new year, the PTSD and Substance Abuse Committee is looking closely at how we can better support veterans of every generation. We know most veterans who seek help for PTSD do well with traditional treatments such as talk therapy and medication. But a small group of veterans continues to struggle after trying these standard methods. For them, having more treatment options is important.

The members of the committee submitted a resolution at the 2025 National Convention, which the delegates approved, to push for more research into the use of an intervention called the Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories Protocol (RTM).

Early studies show that RTM may help reduce nightmares, flashbacks, and other intrusive PTSD symptoms. It works by gently helping the brain manage memories, so that they are less overwhelming. It is not meant to replace proven treatments such as Prolonged Exposure or Cognitive Processing Therapy, but it may be a helpful option for veterans who have not found relief from those methods.

Another treatment we are watching is hyperbaric oxygen therapy, HBOT. This treatment has been used for many years for other medical issues. Some new studies suggest it may help lessen symptoms of PTSD and traumatic brain injury. Research is still mixed, which is why the committee believes that the VA should continue studying HBOT while making sure that traditional PTSD care is fully staffed and available.

To be clear: Alternative treatments are not meant to take the place of counseling or proven therapy. Instead, they may help veterans feel better enough to start therapy, return to therapy, or benefit more from it. We want veterans to have a full toolbox, not a single option.

The committee also knows that recovery does not end when treatment ends. Many veterans need support to stay connected and rebuild their lives. Peer support groups, often called rap groups, are a key part of this. They help veterans keep the progress they made in treatment and stay grounded through shared experiences.

The committee believes that the VA should build, protect, and sustain these groups and not eliminate them. Long-term support helps prevent relapses and strengthens community bonds. We also support community programs, job training, and supportive housing projects such as the Veterans Community Project’s tiny homes.

As we grow older, many of us see how aging affects PTSD, substance use, and long-term medication needs. As we age, medicines that worked years ago may need to be adjusted, changed, or used more carefully. Solid medication management is very important, because the right dose can make a big difference in safety, health, and quality of life. The committee will be studying how the VA can better support aging veterans so no one slips through the cracks.

We welcome input from veterans across the country. Your experiences help guide our work and ensure that every veteran, no matter their age, injury, or history, has a fair chance at healing and support.

By GARY ESTERMYER, CHAIR

Our Grants Subcommittee met twice virtually in early December to review and edit application and agreement forms. We agreed to send out the application form electronically to all past grant recipients, as well as to all VVA state council presidents for transparency and for informational purposes.

Only state councils or chapters with active VVA benefits programs are eligible to receive a grant. The successful awardees could receive up to $20,000 to help offset their benefits program expenses.

Grant recipients will be announced in my next column. Success stories from all the VSO programs were requested to be submitted. We hope to run some in the VVA Web Weekly or in The VVA Veteran.

The committee, along with National staff, has also been reviewing and updating the VB Program policies. We planned to meet in Arlington, Virginia, during the Board meeting week in late January to discuss our progress and chart the committee’s future.

VVA service officers in the field and in the National office should be commended for their dedicated service and their hard work fighting for veterans to receive their earned benefits.

Thanks to the committee members for their hard work: Mike Dolan, Bill Beecher, Ned Foote, Gerald Corrigan, Gumersindo Gomez, Larry Googins, Joe Jennings, Marc McCabe, Greg Paulline, Vern Peterson, Dick Southern, and John Weiss, and to AVVA advisers Steve Schultze and Jeannie Ebert and National Staffers Courtney Smith and Eliot Wilson for their support.

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