A few notes on our Veterans series

In this last week's episode of Who's Blue, a focal point of my conversation with Congressman Chet Edwards was the appropriations measure his subcommittee had sent to the floor of the House which increased funding for the VA. It had been under veto threat from the White House because it had asked for more than Bush had recommended in his budget. Bush ended up backing down on his threat to veto the measure, choosing instead to veto additional resources appropriated for homeland security.

A while before we started our series on veterans, we featured an article on the issue by Barbara Ann Radnofksy, who has been kind enough to contribute a few pieces since we launched. She brings up several points that we are covering now, and which belong in the body of work we're currently undertaking.

In my introduction to the series, I mentioned that the Washington Post had an ongoing investigation into conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and that the reporting was excellent. Yesterday they released the next part of their series on PTSD, called "Without A Scratch."

Our feature article this week is by Perry Jefferies, a war veteran and representative for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. IAVA's field director, Rob Timmins, is featured in a New York Times article concerning the group's veterans outreach efforts.

More to come. Thanks for reading.