More Housing Grants Available to Disabled Vets

Until recently grants were available for eligible veterans and service members for constructing or modifying their homes. A change in federal law actually allows for those same veterans to receive multiple grants.

Previous to the change veterans and service members could only receive $10,000 to $50,000 from the VA, but only once. Now they can use the VA benefit as many as three times within specified limits in the law.

The VA sent out over 16,000 letters to veterans, particularly those who have only used a portion of their grant. Response to the change has been substantial with more than over 4,500 applications received so far. Of those applicants almost 4,000 veterans have been determined eligible.

Over the past 10 years the VA has averaged about 1,000 of these adaptive housing grants a year and since the program was started in 1948 over $650 million in grants has been distributed to approximately 34,000 disabled veterans.

The grants are typically used to assist veterans with mobility in their homes. The grants are also available to veterans or active duty service members who have been seriously injured and living in temporary homes owned by family members.

“Veterans seriously disabled during their military service have earned this benefit. This change ensures that every eligible veteran and service member has the chance to use the maximum amount afforded to them by our grateful nation,” says new Secretary of Veterans Affairs, James B. Peake.

To learn more, click here.

Home

I just got home and haven't had access to the internet for the last few weeks. I'll be responding to e-mails as soon as I can get to them.

Thanks for all of the support.

Some good news

If you're looking for a little bit of good news, check out this site. Kurdistan is a peaceful, relatively wealthy region in Iraq. It's a symbol for the rest of the country.

Anysoldier.com

If you're looking to donate things to soldiers and Iraqis out here, I urge you to take a look at anysoldier.com. They are a great organization that matches up those who want to donate and the soldiers who want to receive specific things.

Thanks to Caroll Melton for reminding me of this site.

More thanks for the internet

Many thanks to Michelle and Scott Slusher and Richard Wood for their recent donations to our internet!

Christmas card drive

If you'd like to help out Kat send some Christmas cards to the troops over here, please visit this link for more information. She'll be collecting messages and cards to send to a few units over here who have suffered some heavy casualties.

National Review Online

I recently had the opportunity to have a story published in National Review Online. The direct link is here.

Many thanks to Jim, Kathryn, Sam, and Caroline for your help. I appreciate it.

If you've found my blog through NRO, thank you for the support. I've received quite a few emails, and I will try to respond to as many as I can. I'm getting ready to leave Iraq soon and can no longer receive mail. I am working on getting a new contact person who can receive things. As soon as I do, I will post that information here.

Enjoy!

Taking a shower

It's been awhile since I wrote about what it's like to live here, but I've got a good example for you. There is a water shortage right now on the base, so Higher put out for us to take "combat showers." Basically, do what you have to do, and get out.

So I go to take a shower and KBR has changed all of the shower nozzles to the reduced water usage spray variety. I guess when there is no water shortage they let us have the good nozzles, and when there is we get the crappy mist nozzles. So anyway I get in the shower and turn the water on. All is well. The water pressue often fluctuates, and it started off pretty low. Then, all of the sudden, the water pressure went up, there was a loud bang and the pipe holding up the crappy mist nozzle behind me broke off from the pipe below it! Water is flowing like a drinking fountain out of the lower pipe, and the pipe that blew off is halfway across the bathroom.

So, how is Iraq, people ask me. Well, that never happen to me in the U.S.

Today's article

Here's a good article discussing Scooter Libby's indictment:

Obstruction for what?

and some alternative views here.

More thanks

Many thanks to Joseph VanDyke for his generous donation to our satellite.