New group to focus on Iraq, Afghanistan veterans

[cec]

New group to focus on Iraq, Afghanistan veterans

Times staff

A new veterans group will meet this fall to discuss how to ensure that veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are taken care of well.
The National Symposium for the Needs of Young Veterans will meet in Chicago in October, with retired Gen. Tommy Franks, former head of U.S. Central Command who led the U.S. invasion of Iraq, as keynote speaker. The event is hosted by Amvets.
According to its Web site, the challenges facing veterans must remain the focus of the military, veterans’ organizations and the American public
“One of the greatest and yet largely unrecognized challenges facing America is how we will provide for the needs of future veterans — especially those younger people who have served in the Gulf War or are serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world today,” the Web site says.
The group says the symposium will bring together a “diverse and representative group” of active-duty military, reservists and veterans to talk about how to ensure there is a system of earned benefits that are both “adequate and relevant to the needs of today’s younger veterans.”
Country music stars Lee Greenwood and Darryl Worley are also expected to perform during the event, to be held Oct. 18-21.
Speaking at the luncheon on Oct. 19 will be Tammy Duckworth, an Army National Guard veteran who lost both legs in Iraq and is running for a House seat in Illinois as a Democrat.


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