VFW Action Corps Weekly
Advocacy Efforts Continue as House Members Return: Opposition to Section 108 of the Take Care of America’s Veterans Act continues as House members have returned to Washington, D.C., for a few days before they are on recess again for the September holiday. Throughout the August congressional recess, VFW advocates contacted lawmakers via email, phone and in-district meetings to make their concerns clear. The VFW is asking advocates to continue these efforts and tell their representatives to remove Section 108 before advancing this legislative package. Take action.
Pentagon Reports Continuing Decline in Military Sexual Assault: The Department of Defense (DOD) has released its Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Report on Sexual Assault in the Military. This report is required by Congress and includes critical statistics, trend analyses and DOD’s prevention effort. It shows continued decline in both reported sexual assaults and the estimated prevalence of unwanted sexual contact among service members from fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2025. This year, the Department administered the 2025 Workplace Experiences Survey to inform its annual report. Data from that survey show approximately 20,492 active duty service members experienced unwanted sexual contact in 2025 compared with 29,061 in 2023. This decrease was mostly among both junior enlisted men and women, although they and those age 24 and lower remain at higher risk than men and women of higher ranks and over the age of 25. The estimated percentage of victims who reported an assault increased from 25% in 2023 to 33% in 2025. Read the report.
Indiana VA Locations Implement New Electronic Health Record System: VA hospitals in Fort Wayne, Marion, Indianapolis and 16 associated outpatient clinics have deployed the Federal Electronic Health Record (EHR) system. With the Indiana rollout, 11 VA medical centers have successfully transitioned to the new EHR this year. More than 600,000 veterans are now receiving care at VA facilities using the new system. Learn more.
MIA Update: The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced no identifications or burial updates this week.