Category: Defense

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Cemetery Administration is working throughout the month of May with non-profit organizations Carry The Load, Travis Manion Foundation and Victory for Veterans to pay homage to Veterans interred in VA’s 157 National Cemeteries through a series of events, volunteer opportunities and shared stories leading up to Memorial Day.

The National Cemetery Administration expects more than 70,000 volunteers to participate in memorial activities in more than 100 VA national cemeteries throughout Memorial May.

“I welcome everyone across the country to join us at our national cemeteries in honoring the brave men and women who gave their lives protecting our freedom and our way of life,” said VA Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs Sam Brown. “As we mark the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding, the sacrifices of these heroes remind us that liberty is never free and must be cherished and protected by every generation.”

This is the ninth consecutive year of collaboration with Carry the Load, fifth consecutive year with the Travis Manion Foundation and the third consecutive year with Victory for Veterans. Volunteers can learn more about events, remembering and honoring military service here: Volunteer Opportunities

Carry The Load

Carry The Load volunteers will march in 75 locations across the country, including three VA national cemeteries (Tahoma, Los Angeles and Jefferson Barracks). CTL will also hold its signature May 24 Dallas Memorial March along the historic Katy Trail. Marchers carry signs, banners and American flags honoring fallen friends or family members. Those who want to participate should register in advance.

Travis Manion Foundation

This year’s Travis Manion Foundation’s The Honor Project will visit over 30 VA national cemeteries throughout Memorial Day weekend. Family and friends are invited to submit a Fallen Heroes request and a foundation volunteer will visit the gravesite, lay a hand-crafted commemorative token and pause for a moment of reflection. Find the list of participating cemeteries here.

Victory for Veterans

Volunteers with Victory for Veterans recognize Veterans by placing a flower on every Veteran’s grave at each VA cemetery they visit. Since 2021, the program has expanded operations to place flowers at 10 VA national cemeteries, two state Veterans cemeteries and one private cemetery. The group expects more than 400 volunteers this year and more than 27,000 flowers will be placed. Find the list of list of participating cemeteries here.

Veterans Legacy Memorial

VA encourages all Americans to use VA’s Veterans Legacy Memorial website to share memories and stories about Veterans who are no longer with us. VLM is the nation’s largest online memorial space dedicated to Veterans, with more than 10.5 million interactive pages where family, friends, and others can submit written tributes, photos, biographies, documents, and other information.

Over 5.75 million decedents, including 4.1 million Veterans from the Revolutionary War to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are interred in VA national cemeteries. NCA honors eligible Veterans, active-duty service members, and eligible family members with final resting places in national shrines and with lasting tributes that commemorate their service and sacrifice to our Nation.

For information about VA burial benefits, visit any one of VA’s national cemetery locations, visit online at VA burial benefits and memorial items or call toll-free at 800-827-1000. To pre-plan a burial for you and your family, visit NCA’s pre-need eligibility website.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced it has set new records this year for both Veteran suicide prevention screening and comprehensive evaluations for at-risk Veterans – two critical elements of the department’s ongoing work to prevent Veteran suicide.

In March 2026, 88% of all Veterans who received VA care over the prior 12 months completed an annual screen for suicide risk. That’s the highest Veteran engagement rate since VA started collecting these records in 2021. Veterans who did not receive this screen in the 12 months ending March 2026 either completed it later or declined the option.

Also as of March 2026, 96% of Veterans deemed to be at risk of suicide completed a comprehensive follow-up evaluation and support plan within 24 hours. That’s the highest follow-up rate since VA started collecting these records in 2021. Veterans who did not receive this follow-up evaluation in 24 hours received it shortly thereafter or declined it.

During the Biden Administration, VA’s failure to provide risk screening and timely follow-up evaluations to Veterans was highlighted in a 2024 report from VA’s Office of Inspector General. That report recommended that the department ensure more Veterans are covered by these crucial steps, and VA’s improvements allowed OIG to acknowledge VA’s implementation of this recommendation in April.

This progress reflects the Trump Administration’s commitment to ending the scourge of Veteran suicide. To accomplish this mission, VA has stepped up efforts to connect with unenrolled Veterans, as statistics show more than 60% of Veteran suicides involve people who were not in VA care in the two years prior to their death. This is one of several efforts VA has made that helped attract more than 125,000 additional VA health care enrollees in 2026 alone.

“VA care and benefits are key to reducing Veteran suicide, and under President Trump, the department is redoubling its efforts to reach those most at risk,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins.

If you’re a Veteran in crisis or concerned about one, contact the Veterans Crisis Line to receive 24/7 confidential support. You don’t have to be enrolled in VA benefits or health care to connect. To reach responders, Dial 988 then Press 1, chat online at VeteransCrisisLine.net/Chat, or text 838255. 

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs announced today that the Joint Commission, the nation’s most trusted quality and safety accrediting body for health care systems, accredited every VA program it examined in calendar year 2025.

The Joint Commission visited VA hospitals, behavioral health care and home care facilities, and ambulatory facilities last year. As a result of those visits, the standards body accredited all 176 VA programs that it assessed, a testament to VA’s commitment to providing safe and reliable care to the Veterans it serves.

Programs assessed and approved by the Joint Commission included an advanced virtual reality treatment system that helps Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, and new research into how to make VA medical centers work better for Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors.

The Joint Commission had fewer “requests for improvement” for VA compared to the national average and found VA programs made marked improvements from 2024 to 2025.

“These results are yet another example of how VA is improving for Veterans under President Trump’s leadership,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “VA is putting Veterans first, and that means improved access to care and benefits for every Veteran, family member, caregiver and survivor who walks through our doors.”

“Providing care to every individual, including those who have valiantly served our country, is a critically important responsibility and VA’s health system has consistently upheld high standards for patient safety and healthcare quality in the industry,” said President and Chief Executive Officer of the Joint Commission Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, Ph.D. “We recognize and applaud VA employees’ ongoing dedication and commitment to providing exceptional healthcare for our nation’s veteran community.”

The Trump Administration’s VA continues to deliver historic results, including:

• Expanded access to care: VA has opened 34 new VA health care facilities around the country, and in 2026 alone, more than 100,000 new Veterans have signed up for VA health care.
• More VA appointments than ever before: In FY2025, VA completed 82,083,918 direct care appointments, up 4.1% from FY2024.
• Flexible appointment scheduling: VA has offered Veterans more than 2.3 million appointments outside of normal operating hours to give them more timely and convenient options for care.
• Speedy access to benefits: VA has reduced the backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits by 67% since Jan. 20, 2025, after it increased 24% during the Biden Administration.
• Modernized facilities: VA will spend nearly $5 billion in FY26 to modernize, repair and improve health care facilities, the largest non-recurring maintenance investment in VA’s history.
• Housing homeless Veterans: VA permanently housed 51,936 homeless Veterans across the country in FY2025, the highest total in seven years.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs today announced a dramatic reduction in processing times for both Veteran disability claims and pension and survivor benefits, which shows that the Trump Administration’s year-long push to make VA work better for Veterans is paying off.

VA receives millions of claims from Veterans each year for disability benefits and continues to process them faster than ever while maintaining high accuracy rates. This means more Veterans are receiving the benefits they’ve earned through their service on a timely basis. For example:

• After processing a record of more than 3 million claims in fiscal year 2025, VA is on a similar pace in FY2026 and has processed more than 1.5 million claims halfway through FY2026.
• In FY2026, VA completed 1 million disability claims faster than ever and hit this milestone on Feb. 2, 2026.
• VA’s claims-processing accuracy has increased to 94.02%, which is the highest 12-month accuracy rate in the last two years.
• The average number of days needed to complete a claim has fallen from 141.5 days to 80.7 days since the start of the second Trump Administration, a 43% decrease.

VA also receives hundreds of thousands of claims for Veterans Pension, Survivors Pension, and Dependency and Indemnity Compensation each year. DIC benefits are for the surviving spouses, the children, or the parents of a service member who died in the line of duty or through a service-related injury or illness.

During the second Trump Administration, VA has stepped up its levels of service to ensure Veterans and Survivors receive the benefits they deserve:

• In February, the backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits fell to less than 100,000 claims for the first time since 2020.
• VA has decreased the average time to complete an initial Veterans Pension claim from 170 days to 57 days, a 66% reduction. The average time to complete an initial Survivors Pension claim has dropped from 172 days to 73 days, a drop of more than 55%.
• VA has nearly eliminated initial Veterans Pension claims that are part of the VA disability claims backlog (older than 125 days), reducing this backlog from 3,514 claims to just 71 claims, a 98% reduction. The Survivors Pension backlog has decreased from 3,391 claims to 115 claims, a 96% reduction.
• The average time to complete DIC claims has dropped from 163 days to 73 days, a decline of more than 50%.
• The number of DIC claims in the VA disability backlog (older than 125 days) has dropped from 13,501 claims to 2,257, an 83% reduction.

Additionally, VA has cut the average time to complete burial claims from 70 days to 31 days, a reduction of more than 50%.

VA achieved these milestones through focused leadership, hard work and targeted use of overtime. About half of VBA’s claims processors are Veterans, and their firsthand understanding of military service strengthens VA’s ability to deliver benefits with both precision and compassion.

”Under the leadership of President Trump, VA is focused on delivering Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors all of the benefits they’ve earned as quickly as possible,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “These tremendous improvements underscore that commitment.”

WASHINGTON – The Department of Veterans Affairs on Saturday deployed the new Federal Electronic Health Record system at four hospitals in Michigan – the first deployment in years after the Biden Administration paused the rollout of this important technology in 2023.

The Federal EHR went live April 11 at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, VA Battle Creek Medical Center, VA Detroit Healthcare System, and the VA Saginaw Healthcare System. This is the first wave of 13 planned deployments in 2026 under VA’s accelerated schedule, which is aimed at fulfilling the promise of a more connected, efficient and patient-centered experience across all VA facilities.

With this launch, Veterans across Michigan can now benefit from:

• The seamless, hassle-free transfer of military health records among VA, Department of War and other federal partners
• The integration of health information from private sector facilities into VA’s care for Veterans
• Medical appointments in which VA doctors and nurses spend more time with patients and less time struggling with outdated technology
• Less time undergoing duplicative tests because prior test results can’t be found
• An increased ability of VA facilities to share best medical practices with each other
• Improved continuity of care when Veterans transfer among facilities or need emergency care at facilities they’ve never visited

The Biden Administration put the EHR project on hold after it encountered problems with its early rollout. But the Trump Administration got the project back on track by:

• Fixing hundreds of problems related to the initial rollout of the EHR system at the six original VA sites. Some of these related to efforts by local VA facilities to customize the system, which only complicated the process. Saturday’s rollout focuses on a standardized system that will put all VA facilities on the same page and remove the complexities that caused delays.
• Eliminating the bureaucracy that was holding the project back. Under the Biden Administration, decisions related to EHR modernization were left to several councils that fought among themselves and held up key decisions. VA replaced that unwieldy system with a single council that answers to top VA leaders, increasing accountability and making it easier to find and implement common sense decisions.
• Getting local facilities more involved. As VA’s lead official on the EHR rollout, VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence has visited all 13 deployment sites this year and has engaged directly with facility leaders at each location to answer questions and make sure these sites are ready to go.
• Hiring more people to ensure the rollout goes smoothly. VA has already hired dozens of staff to help with the rollout in Michigan and other locations and is in the process of hiring a total of 400 people.

Under VA’s accelerated schedule, the following additional EHR deployments will take place this year:

June 2026:

• Chillicothe VA Medical Center (Chillicothe, OH)
• Cincinnati VAMC (Cincinnati, OH)
• Cincinnati VAMC-Fort Thomas (Fort Thomas, KY)
• Dayton VAMC (Dayton, OH)

August 2026:

Fort Wayne VAMC (Fort Wayne, IN)

• Marion VAMC (Marion, IN)
• Richard L. Roudebush VAMC (Indianapolis, IN)

October 2026:

• Alaska VA Healthcare System (Anchorage, AK)
• Louis Stokes Cleveland VAMC (Cleveland, OH)

“These first EHR deployments in 2026 represent real progress toward a unified electronic health record that strengthens care delivery for our patients and providers,” said VA Deputy Secretary Paul Lawrence, Ph.D. “With our Michigan sites now live, we are building strong momentum as we prepare for the next wave of implementation.”

For more information about the EHRM program and the Federal EHR, visit https://digital.va.gov/ehr-modernization.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs today announced the availability of $7 million in grants for organizations that provide transportation services to rural Veterans.

Grant funding is available to Veteran Service Organizations and State Veterans Service Agencies that provide Veterans transportation services to and from VA or VA-authorized health care appointments. These funds are made available through the Highly Rural Transportation Grants Program, which provides transportation programs in counties with fewer than seven people per square mile. There is no cost to participate in the program for Veterans who live in an area where this program is available.

Since HRTG’s launch in 2014, VA has awarded $35 million to organizations across 15 states, U.S. territories, and tribal lands.

“Improving health care access for rural Veterans is vital,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “These grants will help break down the geographic barriers to health care some rural Veterans face.”

For more details about eligibility, priorities, and application requirements visit VA.gov/HEALTHBENEFITS/vtp/grant_applicants. Interested parties can apply on grants.gov. The closing date for application is May 5, 2026.

The grant is just one of many ways the second Trump Administration is making VA work better for Veterans. For example, VA has:

• Enrolled more than 100,000 new Veterans in VA health care in 2026.
• Opened 34 new VA health care facilities since Jan. 20, 2025, Opening 34 new VA health care facilities expanding health care access for Veterans around the country.
• Reduced the backlog of Veterans waiting for VA benefits by 67%, after it increased 24% during the Biden Administration.
• Completed 82,083,918 direct care appointments in FY2025, up 4.1% from FY2024.
• Offered Veterans more than 2.3 million appointments outside of normal operating hours, giving Veterans more timely and convenient options for care.
• Permanently housed 51,936 homeless Veterans across the country in FY2025, the highest total in seven years.

WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs today announced the availability of $16 million in grants for national, regional and community-based organizations that provide adaptive sports programs for Veterans and service members with disabilities.

Adaptive sports programs offer Veterans supportive and recreational opportunities to improve their independence, well-being and quality of life. These programs include a variety of competitive and leisure activities — such as archery, skiing, cycling, wheelchair softball, hunting, fishing and many others — that enable Veterans to rehabilitate through recreation and encourage an active and healthy lifestyle.

Since the establishment of the Adaptive Sports Grant Program, VA has awarded over $160 million to expand access to adaptive sports nationwide.

“Adaptive sports can be life-changing for disabled Veterans, improving strength and facilitating healing while building resilience through competition, camaraderie and achievement,” said VA Secretary Doug Collins. “These grants will create vital access to local adaptive sports programs to help Veterans stay active, engaged and connected with their communities and fellow Veterans.”

Eligible organizations have until May 13, 2026, to apply. For details about eligibility, priorities and application requirements for this year’s Adaptive Sports Grant Program, visit https://grants.gov/search-results-detail/360391.

For more information on the Adaptive Sports Grant Program and awardees, visit www.va.gov/adaptivesports and follow @Sports4Vets on social media.

The grant is just one of many ways the second Trump Administration is making VA work better for Veterans. For example, VA has: