Fleet Reserve Association Branch 70 - Poway

08/21/2026

NewsBytes August 21, 2026

In this issue:
FRA Opens Fall VSO Course
VA Launches Homeless Veteran Fund
DHA Elevates Data and AI
Navy OPTEMPO Exposes Logistics Failures
GAO Faults Navy Blast Screening



FRA Opens Fall VSO Course
Have you ever wanted to understand how the VA claims process works?
Are you interested in helping your fellow shipmates obtain the VA benefits they have earned?

The Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) Fall 2026 Veteran Service Officer (VSO) and Branch Veteran Claims Advisor (BVCA) Course is now accepting interested applicants.

Course Schedule

· Dates: September 8, 2026 – November 24, 2026

· Classes: 2nd and 4th Tuesdays and Thursdays of each month

Veteran Service Officers (VSOs)

Veteran Service Officers complete the course and may pursue national accreditation through the VA Office of General Counsel (OGC). Accredited VSOs are authorized to prepare, present, and file VA claims on behalf of veterans through the Fleet Reserve Association.

Branch Veteran Claims Advisors (BVCAs)

Branch Veteran Claims Advisors complete the same comprehensive training as VSOs. Instead of pursuing OGC accreditation, BVCAs receive a certificate of completion and serve at the branch level by assisting and guiding shipmates who choose to prepare and submit their own claims through VA.gov.

Whether you choose the VSO or BVCA path, you will receive the knowledge and training needed to help fellow veterans navigate the often complex VA claims process.

Interested?

If you would like to attend the Fall 2026 VSO/BVCA Course, please email Rob Daniel at [email protected] by September 4th, 2026, with the subject line: Fall 2026

In your email, please include:

· A brief statement explaining why you are interested in attending the course.

·Your military service information, including your branch of service and dates of service.

Help make a difference by serving those who served.



VA Launches Homeless Veteran Fund
The Department of Veterans Affairs announced on August 14 a $29 million emergency assistance fund authorized under the Senator Elizabeth Dole 21st Century Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act. The authority runs through the end of FY2027 and covers homeless veterans as well as participants in the HUD-VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program.

Beginning in early FY2027, VA medical centers will distribute up to $11 million in basic goods, including food, shelter, clothing, blankets, and hygiene items, along with tablets, smartphones, and disposable phones intended to keep veterans reachable by health providers, case managers, and prospective landlords. VA is separately soliciting commercial proposals to award up to $18 million in contracted transportation services by September 2026. Those contracts will move veterans to medical appointments, counseling sessions, job interviews, and housing searches.

The program builds on FY2025 results in which VA permanently housed 51,936 homeless veterans, issued $902 million in homelessness assistance grants, and assisted roughly 173,000 veterans in avoiding foreclosure. FRA supports the initiative and will monitor the FY2027 appropriations cycle to ensure the transportation award is obligated on schedule rather than reprogrammed. Branches are urged to connect at-risk Shipmates with their local VA medical center homeless coordinator.



DHA Elevates Data and AI
Defense Health Agency leaders used the 2026 Defense Health Information Technology Symposium in New Orleans on August 11 to frame trusted data, modern technology, and a trained medical workforce as inseparable from combat capability. Under the theme "From Data to Dominance: Forging a Warfighter Health Advantage," DHA Director Vice Adm. Darin K. Via and DHA Chief Information Officer Pat Flanders described a resilient digital health enterprise as a warfighting function rather than a support activity.

Leadership highlighted the newly established Office of Warfighter Health Advantage, led by Rear Adm. Tracy Farrill, who also serves as the Military Health System Digital Functional Champion. The office is designated as DHA's lead for data-driven decision-making, performance optimization, and innovation, drawing together expertise in strategy, data analytics, health informatics, and digital platforms. DHA also continues expanding ambient listening technology, which uses artificial intelligence to draft clinical documentation during the appointment itself, following earlier rollouts at Walter Reed and across Defense Health Network Central.

FRA supports health technology modernization that measurably improves readiness and returns provider attention to the patient, and holds that the military health record is the origin document for nearly every future VA claim. The Association urges DHA to extend these tools to afloat units, forward-deployed corpsmen, and Coast Guard clinics rather than concentrating them at large stateside treatment facilities, and will press for confirmation that AI-generated documentation transfers cleanly into the VA record.



Navy OPTEMPO Exposes Logistics Failures
Extended Middle East operations have compounded years of maintenance backlogs, supply chain friction, and crew fatigue across the fleet. After Iranian strikes damaged the Navy's primary regional logistics hub in Bahrain in February, the Navy shifted logistics support to Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia, more than 2,000 miles from operating carrier strike groups. The relocation imposed a 30-day advance ordering requirement that proved unworkable during active operations, and Sailors reported degraded food quality, mail backlogs, and spare parts delays. One Sailor aboard an Independence-class littoral combat ship described logistics as "a complete failure the entire time out there."

Deployment lengths compounded the strain. USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) completed a post-Vietnam record 326 days at sea after being extended for Middle East operations, and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) passed 250 consecutive days underway without a port visit, prompting family members to raise mental health concerns. The structural picture is equally difficult. The Navy has accumulated more than 33,700 maintenance days beyond schedule since 2014, and with USS Nimitz retiring at year's end the carrier force drops to roughly 10 operational hulls against the 15-carrier requirement identified in 2013.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle has stated that "Sailors first is not a slogan — it's a warfighting imperative," but lawmakers, retired surface warfare officers, and deployed crews say force structure shortfalls and slow shipbuilding continue to push personnel and legacy hulls past sustainable limits. Rep. Mike Levin faulted planning for the regional disruption. FRA cautions that readiness cannot be sustained when operational tempo outruns supply, maintenance, and manning, and will press HASC and SASC for predictable deployment rotations, hardened and dispersed regional logistics nodes, and fully funded end-strength as the FY2027 NDAA advances.



GAO Faults Navy Blast Screening
A Government Accountability Office report released August 19 finds that Defense Department efforts to monitor and mitigate brain health risks from weapons blast overpressure are stalling on staffing and technology shortfalls. DoD imposed mandatory safety requirements in 2024, including stand-off distances, exposure tracking, and baseline cognitive assessments, with a September 30, 2025 deadline for testing all incoming recruits and all personnel serving in high-risk specialties.

Completion data shows the Navy trailing the force. Roughly 86 percent of active-duty personnel in high blast-exposure occupations had been assessed as of fiscal 2025, but the service breakdown is uneven: the Army completed 87 percent and the Air Force 81 percent, while the Navy completed 59 percent. Separately, 198,161 new service members completed baseline assessments upon entry during the fiscal year. Personnel and Readiness officials identified insufficient industrial hygienists as the primary barrier to meeting exposure tracking targets, and DHA reported that it lacks the specialists needed to conduct follow-on monitoring after initial evaluations.

GAO recommended that DoD complete a comprehensive assessment of the resources required to implement its blast exposure policies and take action to ensure the services have sufficient industrial hygiene staffing. DoD concurred and committed to completing both by December 2026. FRA holds that undocumented exposure today becomes an unprovable VA claim decades later, particularly for personnel in naval aviation, naval special warfare, explosive ordnance disposal, gunnery, and Marine Corps artillery and breaching billets. The Association will press for Navy and Marine Corps completion rates to be reported separately.

Upcoming Committee Hearings:
HVAC:https://veterans.house.gov/calendar/
SVAC:https://www.veterans.senate.gov/hearings
HASC:https://armedservices.house.gov/calendar/
SASC:https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/hearings

08/15/2026

Newsbytes August 14, 2026

In this issue:
Trump Orders Navy Shipbuilding Overhaul
IG Flags Decay at Japan Bases
Star Act Stalls Over Funding Fight
George Washington to Relieve Lincoln
VA Secures Record Drug Price Reductions
VA Adoption Reimbursement for Infertility



Trump Orders Navy Shipbuilding Overhaul
President Donald J. Trump signed a National Security Presidential Memorandum titled "Rebuilding the United States Navy and America's Shipbuilding Industrial Base" on August 13. The memorandum targets cost growth, schedule delays, and cancellations that the administration attributes to overly complex designs and iterative design changes, and to a lack of capacity and competition that has produced order backlogs across six major Navy shipbuilding programs.

The directive works through a series of planning requirements rather than immediate ex*****on. Within 60 days, the Secretary of War must deliver a plan to replace the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and the Advanced Weapons Elevators with steam and hydraulic systems on CVN 81, the future USS Doris Miller. Within 120 days, the Department of War (DoW) must submit a plan to raise submarine and carrier readiness that includes standing up a fifth public Navy Yard, with drydock capacity sized to the projected fast attack submarine fleet and locations considered near the Pacific Fleet, including the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii, and the territories. A separate 90-day requirement covers a Component Repair Center holding at least one ship set of spare equipment for the Los Angeles, Virginia, Seawolf, Ohio, and Columbia classes. The memorandum also directs a review of Naval Sea Systems Command aimed at results-based accountability for leadership measured by speed of delivery. Finally, it authorizes a "Finland Model" for up to three ship classes, modeled on the October 2025 icebreaker construction agreement that supports the Coast Guard, under which a foreign shipbuilder may build the first two ships i

08/14/2026

https://www.fra.org/fra/Web/About_FRA/Web/About_FRA.aspx?hkey=218ef517-7b91-433d-8cbc-e4a9f2cc54df

FRA

07/16/2026

https://www.fra.org/FRA/Web/Content/VotervoiceFullInfo.aspx

FRA

07/12/2026

Please read!

07/10/2026

Newsbytes July 10, 2026

In this issue:
Only 37% Would Recommend Service
Subcommittee Tackles Burial Barriers
Claims Backlog Below 70K
200,000 Veterans Join VA Care
DoD Mandates 50% Cut in PCS Moves



Only 37% Would Recommend Service
A sobering new national assessment from Blue Star Families has exposed a widening crisis within the domestic military community, revealing that only 37 percent of active duty military families would recommend a career in uniform today. The figure, drawn from the organization’s 2025 Military Family Lifestyle Survey of more than 6,000 military connected respondents and amplified this week in an exclusive Military.com interview with Blue Star Families CEO Kathy Roth-Douquet, reflects the crushing, compounding pressures of modern military life, driven by soaring local housing costs, persistent spouse unemployment, and severe food affordability challenges. Roth-Douquet highlighted that the historic strain is frequently amplified by a severe sense of isolation. Only 30 percent of military families report feeling a sense of true belonging in the communities where they reside, and a mere 15 percent believe their civilian neighbors understand what military service requires.

The systemic nature of the crisis means that while the Pentagon can provide traditional pay scales and basic allowances, many of the heaviest burdens are left for service families to handle alone within civilian communities. As a telling indicator of this stress, military families are now choosing to homeschool their children at six times the national average, largely due to the severe struggle to secure consistent, high quality public education through repeated, mandatory moves. The survey emphasized that when local communities intentionally welcome newly arrived families, their sense of belonging and understanding scores climb into the 70 and 80 percent range, dramatically increasing their likelihood to recommend service.

The FRA views these numbers as an alarming red f

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06/26/2026

NewsBytes June 26, 2026

In this issue:
Star Act Blocked Again
FRA Advances Consent and EHRM Work
VA Releases FY2025 Benefits Report
Pentagon Drops Commissary Privatization
House Delays VA Omnibus



Star Act Blocked Again
The Senate floor fight over the "Major Richard Star Act" (S. 1032) intensified this week, marking two more blocked attempts to advance the legislation and leaving approximately 59,000 combat-injured veterans no closer to receiving their full retirement pay and disability compensation concurrently. Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) went to the floor twice: first requesting unanimous consent to pass the bill immediately, then offering a compromise motion that would have set a roll call vote by August 7, 2026, requiring 60 affirmative votes. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) objected to both requests, citing concerns over fiscal offsets and arguing that the bill's multi-billion dollar cost structure has not been paired with a long-term funding mechanism. These Senate-floor blockages follow objections by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on June 9 and June 10, which themselves came after prior obstructions in October 2025 and March 2026.

The floor debate also exposed the deepening fault line over how to pay for the Star Act. A proposal circulating in House Republican discussions would fund the bill through H.R. 9237, the "Take Care of America's Veterans Act," an omnibus package that offsets costs in part by restructuring disability compensation ratings for veterans with tinnitus and sleep apnea. Blumenthal directly rebutted this framework from the floor, arguing that the cost of caring for combat-injured veterans is a cost of war itself, and that reducing compensation for veterans suffering from acoustic trauma and operational sleep disorders to pay for another class of veterans is fundamentally unacceptable. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has publicly endorsed the Star Act without an offset, as have 79 bipartisan Senate cos

06/20/2026

Newsbytes June 19, 2026

In this issue:
Marine Valor Honored
Informed Consent Push
Postcard Scam Warning
Foreclosure Relief Launches
PreCheck Fee Waiver



Marine Valor Honored
On Thursday, June 18, 2026, President Donald J. Trump awarded the Medal of Honor at the White House to two legendary Marine Corps veterans of the Vietnam War, retired Major James Capers, Jr., and the late Colonel John W. Ripley, recognizing acts of gallantry that waited nearly six decades for the nation's highest recognition. The same ceremony also honored retired Army Major Nicholas Dockery, and the Fleet Reserve Association (FRA) extends particular pride to the two sea service recipients whose courage continues to define what it means to wear the eagle, globe, and anchor.

Then Second Lieutenant Capers led a nine man team from 3rd Force Reconnaissance Company on a four day patrol from March 31 to April 3, 1967, to locate a North Vietnamese regimental base camp. Despite suffering numerous shrapnel and gunshot wounds and a broken leg, he repeatedly engaged a numerically superior force, directed supporting fire onto the enemy camp, and brought his wounded team to a landing zone, twice attempting to climb out of the evacuation helicopter so that it could lift off with his Marines aboard. At 88, the North Carolina resident becomes the first Black Marine Corps officer to receive the Medal of Honor.

Colonel Ripley received the award posthumously for his actions on April 2, 1972, when, serving as Senior Marine Advisor to the Third Vietnamese Marine Corps Infantry Battalion, he single handedly moved 500 pounds of explosives into position beneath the bridge at D**g Ha under continuous enemy fire and detonated it, halting a major North Vietnamese mechanized assault. Ripley, who died in 2008, originally received the Navy Cross before years of advocacy secured the upgrade. The FRA is proud that our members joined the grassroots effort behind H.R. 3377, the measure introduced by Representative Ralph No

06/12/2026

Newsbytes June 12, 2026

In this issue:
Veterans Omnibus Package
War Department Rename
EHR Reaches Midwest
Record Claims Output



Veterans Omnibus Package
In an unprecedented display of legislative coordination, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have consolidated more than 60 individual pieces of veterans' legislation into a single, massive congressional package. This historic omnibus represents one of the most comprehensive legislative pushes for veterans, caregivers, and military families seen in a generation. By weaving dozens of separate bills into a unified framework, congressional leaders aim to bypass individual committee logjams and deliver a sweeping array of modernized benefits and protective services directly to the House and Senate floors.

The omnibus covers a vast spectrum of critical needs, stretching from healthcare infrastructure improvements to expanded education and housing benefits for survivors. Notably, the package incorporates heavily championed priority items, including provisions that aim to expand support pipelines for caregivers of catastrophically injured service members and enhance transparency across the VA's administrative offices. Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) have aggressively converged on Washington to support the measure, describing the massive combined package as a definitive mechanism to ensure critical military quality-of-life adjustments are prioritized in the late stages of the legislative cycle.

That momentum, however, comes with a serious complication that has split the veterans' advocacy community. The vehicle carrying these priorities, S. 4744, the “Take Care of America's Veterans Act,” pays for the Major Richard Star Act through a provision that revises disability benefits for tinnitus and sleep apnea, two of the most commonly claimed conditions among veterans. Critics, including the Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee and several veteran advocacy organizations, warn that the offset would strip ear

06/11/2026

Newsbytes June 5, 2026

In this Issue:
Star Act Petition Surge
Troops Tracked In War Zones
VA Fast-Tracks Prosthetics
Navy Fires Yokosuka Triad



Star Act Petition Surge
The fight to end the "wounded veteran tax" reached a fever pitch this week as DLP Theo Lawson, with a massive coalition of Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs) on Capitol Hill. The unified front gathered for a high-profile press conference hosted by House Veterans' Affairs Committee Ranking Member Mark Takano (D-CA), Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA), and Rep. Chris Pappas (NH-01). The lawmakers and advocates issued a fierce, direct challenge to House leadership, demanding an end to the legislative roadblocks that have kept the Major Richard Star Act (H.R. 2102) from the floor despite historic, overwhelming bipartisan support.

The focus of the press conference centered on a newly deployed legislative weapon: a formal discharge petition filed to bypass gridlock and force a direct vote on the House floor. Speakers repeatedly highlighted the fundamental injustice facing approximately 54,000 combat-injured veterans who were medically retired before reaching 20 years of service. Under current outdated statutes, these wounded warfighters are subjected to a dollar-for-dollar offset, forcing them to forfeit their hard-earned Department of Defense retirement pay in order to receive their VA disability compensation. Leaders from the VSO community emphasized that retirement pay rewards honorable service, while disability compensation covers the physical cost of injury, arguing these are two separate promises made to our nation's heroes.

The sheer urgency of the press conference ignited an immediate wave of legislative momentum across the chamber. At the exact time the event kicked off, the discharge petition sat at 177 signees, already representing a substantial portion of the House. By the close of business on Thursday, an additional surge of lawmakers rushed to sign the document, bringing the total to 203 signature