WASHINGTON, DC - President Obama Tuesday night told an American public weary of war that it is time to “turn the page” on the war in Iraq. And although he said the formal end of US combat operations in Iraq would allow the military to turn fuller attention to the war in Afghanistan, Mr. Obama also repeated his pledge to begin ...

President Obama's executive order expanding job opportunities for veterans in federal agencies made headlines last week. He also marked Veterans Day by signing into law a bill that makes it easier for the families of service members to navigate the complicated landscape of rules governing their benefits during reassignments. The 2009 Military Spouses Residency Relief Act (S. 475) allows the husbands ...

A video game company is donating $1 million on Tuesday to set up a foundation to help veterans find employment, organizers announced. Activision Blizzard, which produces the popular Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk franchises, said its Call of Duty Endowment (CODE) will support other groups that assist veterans with their careers. Unemployment may have hit double digits in the nation last ...

The Defense Department is getting tough on contractors that fail to maintain adequate controls against waste, fraud and abuse. In a draft rule posted Friday in the Federal Register, Defense proposed allowing contracting officers to withhold payments from companies with certain deficiencies in their business systems. A clause would be added to contracts requiring firms to certify that they have no ...

Presidential executive orders are lofty, historical documents, generally signed in White House ceremonies with pomp and circumstance. Seldom do we think of them beginning in a small town on the eastern edge of West Virginia. But it was in Shepherdstown, with a population of 803 at last count, where President Obama's latest executive order, designed to facilitate the hiring of veterans ...

President Obama signed into law on Monday a 3.4 percent pay raise for service members in 2010, while federal employee unions said they would push for parity between civilian and military pay in 2011. The military pay raise, included in the fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 3326), was 0.5 percent higher than the 2.9 percent raise Obama requested in his ...

FORT HOOD, Texas – A soldier opened fire at a U.S. Army base in Fort Hood, Texas on Thursday, unleashing a stream of gunfire that left 12 people dead and 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman, and apprehended two other soldiers suspected in the attack. The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said at a news conference. He ...

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is holding off major decisions that could put its military forces on a firmer war footing in Afghanistan even as doubts grow about whether the United States can win there. Many military and diplomatic leaders have urged President Barack Obama to send thousands more Marines, Soldiers and pilots to try to reverse Afghanistan's crumbling security situation. ...

QUANTICO, Va. - Prince William County is looking to attract more defense-related businesses to the areas around nearby military bases. "We're starting to see quite a lot of interest in and around Quantico Marine Corps Base and in the northern part of Route 1, close to Fort Belvoir," says Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart. The county ...

Most Americans have a neutral to negative opinion of federal agencies, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday. The poll, conducted during the summer, asked more than 40,000 Americans to rate their individual experience with federal agencies to understand the public's overall perception of government. Nearly half (46 percent) viewed agencies neutrally, while 34 percent reported negative opinions and 20 ...

House lawmakers over the weekend voted to protect TRICARE and Defense non-appropriated fund health care beneficiaries from unintended consequences of national health reform. The exemption (H.R. 4887) applies to the health care coverage provided by the Defense Department to military service members, retirees and their families. It clarifies the tax code to stipulate that coverage provided by Defense is treated as ...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress on Monday sent President Barack Obama a bill that allows military spouses to claim residency in the same state as their wives or husbands. Under current law, service members can choose to keep their original residency as they relocate. [widget:militarycom_call_out] Spouses who lobbied for the change said having that same right would prevent hassles associated with every ...

The Department of Veterans Affairs' problems with the Post-9/11 GI Bill's benefits seem to linger, no matter what the government does. Tens of thousands of veterans, active-duty servicemembers and their dependents have been waiting for promised higher-education benefits from VA since fall classes began last month. The agency attempted to address the backlog by granting $3,000 in emergency checks, but that ...

This report is the first in a three-part series. WASHINGTON (AP) - Nobody wants to buy them a beer. Even near military bases, female veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't often offered a drink on the house as a welcome home. More than 230,000 American women have fought in those recent wars and at least 120 have died doing ...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - An Army captain from Oregon pleaded guilty Monday to charges that he stole nearly $700,000 from the U.S. government while serving in Iraq. U.S. District Court Judge Ancer Haggerty set sentencing for March 1 after Capt. Michael Dung Nguyen entered guilty pleas to theft and money-laundering charges. The maximum sentence for each offense is 10 years in ...

President Obama signed the Defense Authorization bill on Wednesday, which means many federal employees will see changes in their pay & benefits. On this week's Your Turn, Mike Causey spoke with Jessica Klement of the Federal Managers Association, who broke down some of the more significant aspects of the bill. Listen to the audio at FederalNewsRadio "[It] will credit FERS employees ...

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Robert Gates' decision announced Wednesday to order a review of the Pentagon's payments to retired senior officers for their advice was prompted in part by how much these "mentors" get paid. A USA TODAY review found: • The Navy pays its mentors an average of about $330 per hour, including expenses, according to its budget. • The ...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama's national security adviser, retired Gen. James Jones, says decisions on how best to stabilize Afghanistan and beat back the insurgency must extend beyond the issue of troop levels to improved governance and how best to foster economic development. The debate over sending up to 40,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan is just one element that ...

The Senate was moving closer to passage of the $636.3 billion fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations bill Thursday night, although a long list of amendments awaiting consideration and votes will push a final vote on the measure to Tuesday at the earliest. During floor debate, the chamber approved an amendment offered by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., that requires the Missile Defense Agency ...

If you want to get a sense of the broad range of Defense Department activities, there's no better reading than the 638-page House-Senate conferee report on the fiscal 2010 defense authorization bill released last week. You could start with apparel. Each service has its camouflage uniforms, which are different even within services. What to do? The House wants to standardize uniforms ...