Veterans Affairs has joined forces with Florida in a pilot project that will offer severely injured troops additional benefits from the state once they transition from military hospitals to a VA medical facility. VA chief James Nicholson calls it a “promising extension” of VA’s own transition assistance. If it works in Florida, says Nicholson, he wants to “partner with other states to make this long-term support possible for these most deserving veterans in other parts of the country.”
U.S. Air Force F-35s and F-22s regularly deploy deep into the Pacific region from Alaska, Utah, and Hawaii. In the future, though, the head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command would like to see the Air Force permanently station fifth-generation aircraft west of the international date line—closer to China.