Articles by Wendy Innes

Earlier this month, a report from the Associated Press that about 40 immigrant recruits had been discharged from the Army’s Delayed Entry Program, or DEP, drew attention and made the rounds on social media, prompting outrage by some alleging discriminatory treatment. And while this is unfortunate and does leave the immigration status of these recruits in questions, it’s nothing new. Most recruits, regardless of their country of origin, will spend some time in DEP, usually a few weeks to a few m...

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA - Earlier this year, an investigation by the Associated Press revealed a disturbing sexual assault problem on some of the nation’s military bases around the world. Since the initial story broke, it seems the problem is worse than originally thought and Congress wants answers and changes, something that the Pentagon is fighting against. Since the story broke in March, the AP has found that there are now nearly 700 cases over the last 10 years of child-on-child sexual assault...

The country’s military bases are dead zones of justice for child-on-child sexual assaults, according to the findings of a lengthy investigation conducted by the Associated Press. The findings of the investigation, released in March, paint a bleak picture for the children of military families who are sexually assaulted by the children of other military families. The problem of sexual assault within its ranks has long been a well-known black eye for the military. But more than a decade after the ...

Last week, President Trump shocked some by taking the safe road and nominating the acting VA Secretary Robert Wilkie to fill the role permanently. The president is not known for taking safe or predictable actions. However, in the wake of the scandal with Dr. Ronny Jackson, and the very public and unpleasant firing of Dr. David Shulkin in March, he almost had to in order to ensure confirmation. Wilkie’s nomination is not without hiccups, but should go relatively smoothly. Not long after Wilkie ...

A report released last month by the Pentagon found that reports of sexual harassment in the military increased from fiscal year 2016, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. The report also found that reports of retaliation against those making reports increased as well, proving that there is still much work to be done to combat the epidemic of sexual violence in the nation’s military. The report, compiled by a bi-annual survey, found that there was an approximate 10 percent increase in the n...

It was announced last week that the president’s nominee for Secretary of the VA, Dr. Ronny Jackson was withdrawing from consideration amid a slew of accusations of misconduct. For his part, Dr. Jackson categorically denies the accusations, and the White House has been supportive of “Doc Ronny.” But the withdrawal of Dr. Jackson does leave the question of who will fill the seat left vacant by the sudden departure of Dr. Shulkin last month and who is responsible for investigating claims of wrong ...

In a move that has become so common, President Trump took to Twitter to taunt his adversaries in recent days; this time it was Russia. Russia and the United States are at odds over the poisonous gas attack that the Syrian government unleashed against some of its people on April 7. In the wake of the widely publicized Chlorine and Sarin gas attack, the Syrian capital saw another round of airstrikes, carried out by Britain, France and the US. And though the situation is fluid and information has ...

A scathing 158-page Inspector General’s report released last week detailed serious problems and “failed leadership” among the VA’s enormous health care system in general and at the Washington D.C. VA Medical Center specifically. This comes on the heels of another investigation that found that the VA director violated ethics policies, and eventually forced the retirement of David Shulkin’s chief of staff, Viveca Wright Simpson. The report, a follow up to an interim report from last April detaile...

Across the country on any given night, thousands of the nation’s veterans are homeless. While the VA touts successes in permanently housing these men and women, many more suffer. Veteran homelessness, however, is difficult to break down into numbers. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, there are just over 39,000 homeless veterans nationwide. However, actual numbers are very difficult to compile due to the transient nature of homelessness. Many cities estimate their ho...