The Air Force official in charge of its sexual-assault prevention program was arrested for groping, authorities said Monday.

Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski, 41, was removed from his position as head of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office pending an investigation, the Air Force said.

The incident happened just after midnight Sunday when a drunken Krusinski allegedly approached the woman in a parking lot in Arlington, Va., and grabbed her breasts and buttocks, according to a police report.

Police said the woman fought off her assailant and scratches can be seen on Krusinski’s face in his mug shot. He was charged with sexual battery.

The charges are "deeply troubling," Air Force Chief of Staff General Mark Welsh said Tuesday. The Air Force has requested jurisdiction in the case, which is standard practice.

Krusinski didn't show up for work Monday and would not talk to colleagues about the incident, a senior defense official said.

Arlington County PD

Mug shot of Air Force Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski, who headed the service's sexual-abuse prevention office until he was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in Virginia over the weekend.

"He has been removed," Lt. Col. Laurel Tingley said of Krusinski, who had been in charge of the sexual-assault unit for about two months.

His arrest comes as the U.S. military grapples with sexual assault in its ranks. The Air Force recently came under fire when a commander reversed a guilty verdict in a sexual assault case.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel expressed his "outrage and disgust" to Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley Monday night after learning about the allegations against Krusinski. Hagel "emphasized that this matter will be dealt with swiftly and decisively," a Pentagon statement said.

"This is absolutely infuriating," said Greg Jacob, policy director at the Service Women's Action Network. "Clearly the business-as-usual manner in which the military handles sexual assault cases has led to a climate where the very officers in charge of preventing this criminal activity feel that sexual assault is acceptable behavior.

"The military has proven time and again that the current system of prosecuting these cases is broken," he said.

The Pentagon will release its annual report on sexual assaults in the military on Tuesday afternoon, which shows an increase in reported assaults in fiscal year 2012 — up from 3,192 a year before. Furthermore, the number of people who made an anonymous claim that they were sexually assaulted but never reported the attack skyrocketed from 19,000 in FY11 to 26,000 in FY12.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., a member of the Armed Services Committee, said the allegations were "extremely disturbing."

"It is clear that the status quo regarding sexual assaults in the military is simply unacceptable. Next week I am going to take this issue head on by introducing a set of common sense reforms," she said in a statement.

"We have to reform how the military handles sexual assault cases and take on the culture that perpetuates this kind of behavior.”

NBC News' Michael Isikoff contributed to this report

This story was originally published on Mon May 6, 2013 4:45 PM EDT

NBC News

Jeff Barillaro, aka Soldier Hard, is an Iraq War veteran who has put his hip-hop talents to work. Barillaro sings gritty songs he hopes will raise awareness of PTSD and suicide.

A hip-hop song beseeching battle buddies to be on watch for suicidal signals among their peers is being used — informally for now — within the Army as a prevention tool to help the branch stem an ongoing suicide crisis.

“Red Flags,” penned and recorded by former Army tank gunner Jeff Barillaro, was created as an urgent call for current troops as well as Iraq and Afghanistan veterans not to ignore or miss the sometimes-subtle yet often-obvious behavioral changes known to precede many suicides, Barillaro said.

“We’ve seen the red flags but we were blind to them,” said Barillaro, an Iraq War veteran who performs under the stage name Soldier Hard. Many of his songs and videos draw on his own raw experiences with a diagnosis of severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Through the end of March, the Army reported 81 apparent suicides this year among active-duty, Army Reserve and National Guard troops — one death every 26.7 hours. (Some cases remain under investigation). The fatal pace has increased slightly. During 2012, the Army reported 324 suicides within those groups — one death every 27 hours, according to the Pentagon. The latest estimate from the Department of Veterans Affairs showed that 22 veterans commit suicide daily.

The Army — the branch most significantly impacted by suicides — has implemented an array of anti-suicide initiatives, but an Army Reserve adviser in Connecticut sees such a potent message in Barillaro’s lyrics, he believes the song can save lives.

“I want to share his music with anyone willing ,to listen. I think anyone can relate to 'Red Flags,' " said Army 1st Sgt. Steve Kreider, who is based at an Army Reserve Center in Middletown, Conn. “It strikes a chord that this is something we really need to keep an eye open for. There are warning signs we have to recognize not only in other people but in ourselves — I'm being reclusive or I'm drinking too much — these are all signs that something is going on in your life that could be detrimental down the road." 

'Maybe we can stop it'
Kreider has shared “Red Flags” with some of his soldiers in Connecticut — and "for everyone of them, it's had a positive impact," he said. Meanwhile, another Army veteran recently played the song for soldiers at Fort Knox, Ky., Kreider said. 

Moreover, Kreider has now shared the video "with a lot of different higher-ranking people. I'm sure that they're looking at it closely to see if this is something that would fit the mold of what the military can utilize as a tool," he said. 

"And if not, word of mouth is a powerful took itself," he added. "It's close to going viral." 

Since the song’s video was released April 17 on YouTube, it has received nearly 17,000 views. The lyrics are rooted in two actual suicides that stuck hard with Barillaro as he researched the topic by clicking through a blur of military obituaries.

The first verse details a well-decorated Iraq War veteran who, once he shed his uniform and medals, lost his pride yet gained anger while grappling with PSTD, a traumatic brain injury, alcoholism and isolation before clutching a gun and scrawling a farewell note: “I’m better off dead.” In verse two, an active-duty soldier is devastated by survivor guilt after the combat loss of a close friend. He ultimately hanged himself in his bedroom. (Two soldiers pictured in the video are living service members who allowed their images to be used.)

“He was a hard charger but now he’s just ate up,” Soldier Hard sings of the second man.

“‘Ate up’ – that’s a military term for being all messed up, for not being a good soldier anymore. This guy used to be good but after he came back, he just shut down,” Barillaro said. “That’s a red flag. But we didn’t see that.

“Real topics. People can relate to these. I decided to turn their stories into a song,” he added. “A lot of these guys, they’re showing signs before they actually do it. I decided I had to do something. Maybe we can stop it.”

Related: 

• Soldier Hard's hip-hop lyrics reveal PTSD's rough edges
• Some wounded vets thrive on 'Alive Day,' others wear black
• One inch: Death in combat hinges on the tiniest margins

U.S. Army via Reuters

U.S. Army official photo of Army Specialist Marshall Drake.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A U.S. Army soldier was sentenced on Thursday to nearly 12 years in a military prison for shooting and killing a fellow soldier early on Christmas Day, officials said.

Army Spc. Marshall Drake, stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, shot Pvt. Grant Wise in the face in what military prosecutors described as an alcohol-fueled joke that went awry.

Drake was convicted and sentenced in a military proceeding held Wednesday and Thursday on the Anchorage base. He pleaded guilty on Wednesday to violating military rules by failing to register his gun and storing the weapon in his barracks, but he defended himself against the charge of involuntary manslaughter.

At the hearing, Drake's attorney described the shooting as a tragic accident that was not the defendant's fault, Army officials said.

But military prosecutors presented testimony from a witness and other evidence showing that Drake had pointed the gun at Wise's face and fired, with the apparent belief that the weapon was not loaded, Army officials said. The two had been drinking all night and the witness testified that both appeared intoxicated prior to the fatal shooting, officials said.

A military judge ruled that Drake's gross negligence caused Wise's death, said Army spokesman John Pennell.

"It was an accident. However, it was an accident of his own making," Pennell said.

Drake, 23, will be demoted to the rank of private and dishonorably discharged and will lose all pay and benefits, Pennell said.

Drake, from Mount Pleasant, S.C., joined the Army in 2009 and served in Afghanistan from December 2011 to October 2012, officials said

Wise, from Fairport, N.Y., was 25. He joined the army in 2011 and was assigned to Fort Bragg in North Carolina before being transferred to Elmendorf-Richardson, officials said.

Vincent Elkaim / AP via The Canadian Press

Iraq war resister Kimberly Rivera speaks at a press conference in Toronto in August. Rivera, who is pregnant with her fifth child, returned to to the U.S. in September and on Tuesday was sentenced to 10 months in prison for desertion.

DENVER -- An Army private believed to be the first female U.S. soldier to seek refuge in Canada rather than return to duty in Iraq was sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to desertion, military officials in Colorado said on Tuesday.

Kimberly Rivera, who said she grew opposed to the war during a three-month tour of duty in Iraq, pleaded guilty at a court-martial proceeding in Fort Carson, Colo., on Monday and was sentenced immediately.

In addition to the prison time, the 30-year-old private was reduced in rank, ordered to forfeit pay and benefits and given a bad-conduct discharge, base spokeswoman Meghan Williams said.

Rivera fled to Toronto in 2007 while on leave after serving in Iraq with Fort Carson's 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, in Baghdad, according to her lawyer, James Branum.

She surrendered to authorities at the U.S. border in upstate New York last September after a Canadian court ordered her deported to the United States, capping several years spent by Rivera unsuccessfully seeking asylum in Canada.

Branum said Rivera was the first and, as far as he knows, the only female U.S. military deserter to flee to Canada during the Iraq war. The advocacy group War Resisters Support Campaign has said Rivera was the first U.S. female soldier to seek asylum in Canada to avoid redeployment to Iraq.

Rivera, who had been living in Toronto with her partner and four children, deserted because she developed an opposition to the U.S. military mission in Iraq based on her experience there, the group said.

Her case had drawn attention of such international human rights advocates as retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who urged Canadian authorities to allow Rivera to stay.

Under a deal struck with military prosecutors, Rivera agreed to plead guilty in exchange for having her prison term limited to 10 months. Rivera faced a maximum five-year sentence and a dishonorable discharge had she been convicted at trial, military authorities said.

Rivera approached a U.S. military chaplain in Iraq to express her moral reservations about continuing to serve in the conflict but was not informed of her right to seek conscientious objector status, a move that might have headed off prosecution for desertion, her lawyer said.

Rivera will remain at a county jail in Colorado for seven to 10 days before she will be transferred to a military prison, mostly likely the brig at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California, Branum said.

Rivera is pregnant with her fifth child, and Branum said he will appeal to an Army judge for clemency on "humanitarian grounds."

Related:

10 years after Iraq invasion, troops ask: 'Was it worth it?'

Did invasion bring 'hope and progress' as Bush vowed?

Full Iraq coverage from NBC News

Greg E. Mathieson, Sr. / (C) 2012 Greg E. Mathieson Sr. /

A flying HUMMVEE is just one of many projects in development by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. It is featured in a chapter on the "Future of U.S. Naval Special Warfare" in a new book on the Navy SEALs by Greg Mathieson.

MIAMI – Since the U.S. Navy began its special Sea, Air, Land Teams, commonly known as the U.S. Navy SEALs, in 1962, little about them has been made public.

That was on purpose.

“Most of us who were career SEALs had the sense we didn’t need publicity,” said Jack Saunders, who was a U.S. Navy SEAL from 1965 to 1986.

Greg E. Mathieson, Sr. / (C) 2012 Greg E. Mathieson Sr. /

"Sleeping Beauty" submersible canoes being launched by OSS (Office of Strategic Services) Maritime Unit personnel, the forefathers of today's CIA and Navy SEAL Teams. Here the mini submersible is launched during training operations in the Pacific Theater during the 1940's.

To this day, those who were there at the beginning wish the SEALs were still a secret.

But since the raid on Osama bin Laden almost two years ago on May 2, 2011, interest in the secrets of the SEALs has only grown. 

For photographer Greg Mathieson, the timing could not be better.

Mathieson has spent the last six years photographing and researching the SEALs.

He recently published a definitive book on the SEALS with David Gatley titled, “United States Naval Special Warfare/U.S. Navy SEALs.” 

Greg E. Mathieson, Sr. / (C) 2012 Greg E. Mathieson Sr. /

Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewman (SWCC) move though rivers at a high rate of speed in specially designed Riverine boats which are outfitted with heavy weapons and mini-guns capable of firing 2,000-6,000 rounds a minute.

This is not an outsider’s peek inside the SEALs. Rather, Mathieson was given unique access to the inner workings of the secretive group because the Navy blessed his project.

President George W. Bush wrote an opening tribute for the book and former secretaries of the Navy John Lehman and Donald Winter contributed as well.

“No one has ever done a book like this on the SEALs before,” Mathieson said; previously reporters were only given access to training. “Until now, no one has ever been allowed to go with them on submarines, to Iraq with them in a hot zone, to Afghanistan.

Greg E. Mathieson, Sr. / (C) 2012 Greg E. Mathieson Sr. /

Navy SEALs undergo a lot of water training – including a program known as "drown proofing." In this part of training, students have their hands tied behind their backs and descend to the bottom of the pool to recover their face mask with in their teeth.

“I was able to go into their arms rooms. I saw all their toys. It’s like I walked into Q’s lab in a James Bond movie.”

Mathieson added that he wanted to clear up some of the SEALs' lone-wolf misconceptions.

“For every SEAL in the field, there are 20 support people -– including women. I don’t think people understand that.”

The book has been a long time in the making.

“I tried to start this [project] 30 years ago when I was in Honduras and I met a SEAL. I wrote a letter to Adm. George Worthington back then and was denied complete access. Fast forward and Adm. Worthington had retired, but we had stayed in touch. He opened doors because he saw this was a story that really should be told and with that, I had access.”

Much of the material Mathieson has uncovered was, at one time, classified intelligence. 

Greg E. Mathieson, Sr. / (C) 2012 Greg E. Mathieson Sr. /

Boxes of secret documents on the establishment and operations of the U.S. Navy SEALs had remained unopened and classified for some 50 years, until they were declassified for the book.

The book uncovers and details a plan, $20 million in the making so far, for a flying HUMMVEE that will allow SEALs to hover in a war zone and use that position to surprise the enemy. It is part of a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency project that is still in development.

Mathieson used the Freedom of Information Act to uncover old secrets -- and with Worthington’s help, he knew what questions to ask.

“When I got the documents declassified on the SEALs from 1961 to 1962, I found that the U.S. Military was creating all sorts of devices.

“The most amazing was the SADM, Strategic Atomic Demolition Munition. This was a 160-pound atomic bomb that was the size of a basketball. It had an underwater casing that SEALs would tie to their chest, jump out of planes and then place wherever ordered. Think about it, this was long before micro-circuitry and the advances we take for granted today. It existed, but the SADM was never used.”

Greg E. Mathieson, Sr. / (C) 2012 Greg E. Mathieson Sr. /

Department of Defense Combat Correspondents during Desert Storm aboard the USS Curtz with SEAL Team 5 and helicopters of the 160th Night Stalkers. Greg Mathieson is seen with the tan shirt and a camera around his neck. NBC News Correspondent Kerry Sanders is seen in the blue striped shirt.

By way of full disclosure, I’ve known Mathieson since the Gulf War began in 1990 to remove Saddam Hussein's Iraqi troops from Kuwait. We met when we were working as Defense Department Combat Correspondents aboard the USS Curtz with SEAL Team 5 and helicopters of the 160th Night Stalkers.

Each night the SEALs would climb on a “little bird,” a helicopter that sounded no louder than a electric lawn mower. The SEALs would land in Kuwait, place laser tags at strategic locations and then leave. Those laser tags were then used to guide missiles to their targets.

Matheison explained that introduction to the SEALs piqued his interest.

Greg E. Mathieson, Sr. / (C) 2012 Greg E. Mathieson Sr. /

U.S. Naval Special Warfare Combatant-crew Crewman fires a 50 caliber machine gun from a Riverine boat in the darkness of night as seen through night vision goggles at a classified training location.

“I would run into SEALs everywhere I went, but no one really knew what they did. There are only 2,400 SEALs today. Back then, it was even smaller. I just wanted to know more. These guys make James Bond look like a wimp. Who wouldn’t want to know more?”

SEALs say little and share little, but somehow after decades of contact, the SEALs let Mathieson into their inner circle. Now he’s produced some of the most compelling images of their work that were secret -- until now.

Who will want to read and see this book?

“People who want to know about our greatest warriors,” said Mathieson. “What everyone does know is the SEALs are the guys who took down Osama bin Laden.” But he added, “These guys do so much that no one knows about. Now we get a look at them and their weapons.

Greg E. Mathieson, Sr. / (C) 2012 Greg E. Mathieson Sr. /

The first Hush Puppy pistol made exclusively for the U.S. Navy SEALs. The 9-mm pistol with sound suppressor was developed to quietly kill enemy guard dogs during night time operations in Vietnam.

David Friedman / NBC News

Oumama Kabli, center, celebrates becoming a U.S. citizen during a naturalization ceremony on April 15 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Kabli, 19, is a private in the Army National Guard and entitled to become a citizen without the normal five-year residency requirement because of her military service.

This story is part of NBC News’ series “Immigration Nation,” an in-depth examination of immigration in America.

Launched via a 2002 executive order by President George W. Bush, the program lets green-card holders who enlist in the U.S. armed services bypass the typical five-year residency rule and apply immediately for citizenship at no fee. More than 10 percent of such naturalization ceremonies have taken place in 28 countries abroad, including 3,412 in Iraq, 2,102 in Japan and 1,134 in South Korea, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, which administers the process.

In 2008, a one-year pilot program – called Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) – was approved. The program allowed the armed services to tap non-citizens without green cards — here on temporary visas or under refugee or asylum status — to naturalize to help bolster branch needs for specific language or medical skills. “The initial pilot program ran through December 31, 2009 and had a cap of 1,000 total recruits for all services,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen told NBC News.

Last May, the program was brought back for an additional two years with a cap of 1,500, he said. Thus far, the Army has enlisted fewer than 600 soldiers, and no other branch has used the MAVNI authority.

“I feel like I’m living the American dream,” said Oumama Kabli, 19, who was naturalized April 15 during a ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

Born to a Moroccan mother and raised in Canada, she moved with her mom to Virginia to finish high school and attend college. She’s now an Army National Guard private with plans to enter officer training. (Only U.S. citizens are eligible to become commissioned officers). A Muslim, Kabli believes “it’s an advantage for the Army to have people familiar with the religion or the culture” when troops deploy to predominantly Muslim nations.

'Citizenship meant everything'
Just as her Moroccan stepfather did in 2004.

“I actually left (Army) basic training, got my naturalization on Friday and was on the plane to Iraq on Saturday morning,” said Youssef Mandour, 31, who worked as a translator, reaching the rank of sergeant. He pulled a second tour of Iraq from 2009 to 2011, working on reconstruction efforts for the State Department.

“Citizenship meant everything. At that point, I was ready to die for my new country,” added Mandour, who arrived from Morocco on a tourist visa at age 17. Today, he owns a defense contracting company in Virginia. “I’m so proud of Oumama. By making her a U.S. citizen it’s going to create that diversity we’re missing in Iraq and Afghanistan. She will be more received by (Muslim) nations than the normal officers from, say, Alabama.”

Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Ending the current naturalization-through-service program would require a new White House executive order, said USCIS spokesman Daniel Cosgrove. All military candidates must pass brief civics and English language tests and then undergo background checks for serious criminal histories or possible affiliations with terrorist groups.

“The thing I’m concerned about is not what’s happening now in the military but what could happen if the Pentagon and politicians get too enamored of this idea of non-citizens joining the military,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C., that advocates tighter immigration policies.

The White House won’t rescind the 11-year program, Krikorian predicts, even after the scheduled 2014 pullout of American troops from Afghanistan, and “it will become a de facto feature of military life.” Further, that immigrant pipeline may be enlarged, he added, “if we open up the officer corps to non-citizens.” In that scenario, he foresees many foreign students joining in order to stay in America permanently.

Slideshow: Your newest fellow Americans

John Moore / Getty Images

Nearly 700,000 immigrants take the step to U.S. citizenship each year. Meet some of those who have just become part of that select group: Americans.

Launch slideshow

'All bad things can start small'
But if global events transpire that compel the branches to rapidly expand their ranks, he also can imagine a scenario in which the military perhaps further loosens the rules, allowing foreigners abroad to enlist and serve by dangling citizenship as “their compensation.”

"You have the real possibility of soldiering becoming a job that Americans won’t do — just like the Roman empire, not to get too melodramatic about it," Krikorian said. "That’s not something that’s around the corner. But all bad things can start small."

An armed force composed of a far higher share of noncitizens also could boost the security risks for all soldiers and intelligence officers, he added. 

"Being an immigrant or from a recent-immigrant family just adds an additional layer of concern, as we saw with Maj. Nidal (Hasan), the Fort Hood shooter, or Army veteran Ali Mohamed, one of the leaders of the (1998) African embassy bomb attacks," Krikorian said. "The vulnerability to blackmail also increases if the target has family members outside the U.S. who can be threatened — drug cartels have used this tactic to compromise Customs or Immigration agents with relatives in Mexico.

"For the ordinary soldier, my main concern is still numbers. The question is: How many noncitizens are being recruited by the military, and are there any restrictions” on how many green-card holders and temporary visa holders can the armed forces approach in a given year?  

'The U.S. is my new home'
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Erik Brine responded: “We have no restrictions or limits on the recruitment of foreign nationals who are lawfully admitted for permanent residence.”

Today, about 35,000 formerly foreign troops span active-duty, National Guard and reserve units, according to the Department of Defense. (That equates to 1.3 percent of the total force strength). The policy was first used during the Revolutionary War when the federal government allowed noncitizens to enlist and it was revived during the War of 1812, the Civil War and both World Wars.

New U.S. citizens serve the modern branches in a variety of roles, including health care, languages, aviation, logistics and infantry. Christensen, the Pentagon's spokesman, said they "will continue to play a vital role in the U.S. Military."

David Friedman / NBC News

Oumama Kabli, right, celebrates with her mother, Sanaa Mandour, after becoming a U.S. citizen during a naturalization ceremony on Monday, April 15, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

“I am excited that I get to be part of a nation that I’m serving,” said Oumama Kabli. “I’ll always be a Canadian at heart. But the U.S. is my new home, my new adoptive country. It has taken me under its wing. This is where I’m going to live my life.”

“She got to see the process I went through. I’ve told her, ‘I used to be like you but I joined the service,’” added Mandour. “It’s like the iron that shines you up. She wants to help people. I told her that’s the best way that you can help people.”

Related stories:

• NBC News' series: Immigration Nation
• Through the obstacle course of immigration, many paths to citizenship 
• To get green cards, these immigrants must prove they are extraordinary
• By the numbers: How America tallies its 11.1 million undocumented immigrants 
• Waiting half a life for a green card: Families languish in immigration line
• For asylum seekers, path to citizenship is paved with peril

An audacious vow by the Obama Administration to eliminate veteran homelessness in two years — an initiative that's shown progress but is off pace to fully succeed — got a shot in the arm Thursday when leaders of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs proposed legislation to help plug lingering holes in the existing veteran safety net. 

A central theme of the Homeless Veterans Prevention Act of 2013 is to allow the Department of Veterans Affairs to shift its transitional-housing system for street-bound ex-service members into a process that's more focused on giving veterans easier access to permanent, stable housing.

While transitional housing units can give quick shelter to veterans — and, indeed, lower the population of homeless veterans — many of those same men and women often cannot find affordable, long-term housing such as leased apartments. Some ultimately wind up sleeping again under bridges or in cars, say veterans advocates. 

To help end that cycle, the bill would "provide incentives" to the VA "to avoid disruptions that arise when veterans complete transitional housing programs and move on to permanent housing," according to a news release on the legislation. 

The proposed law is sponsored by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Richard Burr, R-N.C. — the chairman and ranking member of the Senate veterans’ panel. Staff members at that committee were unable to say Thursday if the bill would require extra funding, although most of the programs slated to be enhanced already are paid for through federal budgets. 

“We must continue to invest in the progress that has been made and remove any remaining barriers to housing for veterans,” Sanders said.

Since VA Secretary Eric Shinseki pledged in 2009 to pull every veteran off the streets by 2015, that aggressive push has slashed veteran homelessness by 17 percent. But the most recent head count conducted by federal authorities (in January 2012) found more than 62,000 veterans remain homeless, casting doubt as to whether the VA can meet its ambitious deadline.  

Other key pieces of the act include: 

• Keeping veteran families together by allowing the VA to house the children of homeless veterans in transitional housing environments. (Currently, families are often split up when veterans enter such facilities). 
• Allowing the VA to partner with public and private entities to bolster the availability of legal services for homeless veterans. 
• Requiring transitional housing providers to specifically meet needs of homeless women veterans.

In an emailed statement, VA spokesman Josh Taylor said the agency "appreciates" the renewed backing from Sanders and Burr. 

"While we have made significant progress, there is more work to do," Taylor said. "With the continued support of our partners in Congress, at the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the hundreds of community organizations across the country, we will end homelessness among veterans and provide them with the benefits they have earned and deserve."

Related:

• Can Washington get vets off the streets? Tens of thousands homeless despite billions spent
• Rough landings: VA, DOD slow to help returning veterans, study says

We know the problem: the jobless rate for military members who have served our country since 9/11 is significantly higher than the general population. 

Each year, the Families and Work Institute, a non-profit and non-partisan research organization, honors companies that have gone the extra mile to help vets as they return to the civilian workplace.

The winners of the Work Life Legacy Military Awards for 2013: Cornell University, JPMorgan Chase, Merck and Verizon Communications.

“Each of these companies has generated a holistic approach by recruiting, hiring and training vets and giving them a path inside their organizations to sustain employment and create a bright future,” said Adm. Mike Mullen, USN (Ret.), former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a member of the institute’s board.

For example, JPMorgan Chase has a dedicated military recruiting team and an internal military training program that has created more than 5,300 jobs for veterans in just two years.

“We think it’s important not only because it’s good for our business, but we truly believe that we owe this generation of service members the opportunity for success, and jobs is one of them,” said Maureen Casey, managing director for military and veterans affairs at JPMorgan Chase.

Chase and 10 other companies launched the 100,000 Jobs Mission two years ago. The goal is to hire 100,000 vets by 2020. To date, there have been almost 65,000 new hires.

The bank was also cited for co-founding the Institute for Veterans and Military Families with Syracuse University to do research on actionable projects and programs. For example, the institute created the Veterans Career Transition Program, a free online service that lets returning vets learn marketable skills that improve their chances of landing a job in the private sector.

The other winners:

Cornell University’s on-campus Veterans Affairs office offers private professional counseling for both employees and the local community. The university provides extensive support services for military families, including a family “helper list” of those who can assist with family care, education and household maintenance. 

Merck has an employee affinity group to help vets network and find mentors and a transitional assistance program to give veterans employment opportunities.

Verizon Communications assists military spouses with finding jobs. Its Emergency Military Leave policy gives employees on active duty benefits for an additional year beyond the provisions of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. 

There were eight honorable mentions: Bon Secours, Citi, Deloitte, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Sodexo and The Walt Disney Company.

Veterans are not looking for any special consideration, “just the opportunity to fulfill their dreams – and that takes employment,” Admiral Mullen told NBC News. He urges companies to recruit vets, not just wait for them to knock on the door.

“Business cases studies show that over the long term, veterans are really good bets for the bottom line,” he said. “They have the discipline, the technical skills and the leadership skills. They’re loyal, they’re good team players and they lead well. All of those skills translate to an employee who is really going to make a difference in almost any organization.”

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter or visit The ConsumerMan website. 

Related:

• Pentagon looks to cut up to 50,000 civilians over 5 years
• Hiring Our Heroes job fair part of week-long, national hiring push 

The family of a woman who accused a U.S. fighter pilot of rape spoke at protest Thursday outside the Tucson Air Force base where that airman recently was transferred after his military conviction was erased, his prison sentence voided and his discharge overturned.

The brother of Kim Hanks said the family came to “voice outrage at the military’s betrayal of our sister” and he questioned why Air Force commanders chose to send Wilkerson to Tucson where much of Hanks’ family resides. 

Kim Hanks reported that Lt. Col. James Wilkerson assaulted her in March 2012 at his former home on the Aviano Air Base In Italy. 

A jury composed of five military officers found Wilkerson guilty of aggravated sexual assault in November. Wilkerson, who declined comment for this article through an Air Force spokesman, then was sentenced to a year in the brig and ordered to be removed from the service. In February, however, Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin reviewed the case, quashed the conviction and dismissed all of the punishments.

“This ordeal has been extremely painful both for her and the entire family. It is unspeakably hard to watch Kim endure such treatment from the Air Force,” said Dr. Stephen Hanks, a Tucson physician and sibling of Kim Hanks, who is still working at Aviano as a civilian physician's assistant. “She has been forced to withstand an unfair amount of scrutiny and public slandering, hostility, and blame for the crime that was committed against her.

“When the Air Force was notified that Wilkerson was being reassigned to the town where a significant number of Kim's family lives, they refused to consider moving him to one of the multitude of other bases around the world,” Stephen Hanks told about 50 fellow protesters outside Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. “It didn't seem to bother them that his presence in Tucson would inflict additional suffering or risk for Kim as well as us. We are here today to … demand that Lt. Col. Wilkerson and Lt. Gen. Franklin be removed from the Air Force immediately.”

As of Monday, Wilkerson had reported to duty at Davis-Monthan, said Capt. Justin Brockhoff, spokesman for the 12th Air Force, which is headquartered at that base.

That was news to the Hanks family.

“The Air Force said they would tell Kim where he would go, prior to their assigning him, to get her feelings about that,” Hanks said. “They never did. Nobody told us anything.”

Responded Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Lindsey A. Hahn: "Air Force assignments are based on the individual's qualifications as well as the needs of the Air Force. To the best of our knowledge, there was no commitment by the Air Force to notify the accuser of Lt. Col. Wilkerson's next assignment.”

Hahn added that the Air Force personnel officers who opted to station Wilkerson in Tucson would not have known the location of Kim Hanks’ extended family.

When a U.S. service member is convicted of a sexual crime by a military tribunal — as Wilkerson was — that service member must register as a sex offender with public databases in the same way that civilian convicts must notify those systems, including providing a current home address, said Katy Otto, spokeswoman for the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN). That condition falls under the 1994 Wetterling Act.

But because Lt. Gen. Franklin tossed out the conviction, Wilkerson faced no such requirement, said SWAN Policy Director Greg Jacob.

“It's as if Wilkerson was found not guilty by the court,” Jacob said. “Since under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act a conviction triggers registration, Wilkerson does not have to register as a sex offender."

The conviction’s reversal and Wilkerson’s subsequent transfer to Tucson prompted Thursday’s protest, organized by Protect Our Defenders, an advocacy group for victims of military sexual assault. Members of that organization have publicly called on Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to remove Wilkerson from the Air Force. On Monday, their president, Nancy Parrish, also sent a letter to Hagel requesting that Franklin also be dismissed from service.

Franklin’s decision to reverse the military jury’s ruling, Parrish said in her letter, “clearly conflicts with his responsibility to further good order and discipline within the service ... Lt. General Franklin must be fired.

“What powers could Lt. General Franklin possess that would make him a better judge of the credibility of witnesses than the actual court members, who observed the testimony?” Parrish asked. “He did nothing more than protect a fellow pilot.” 

Related:

• Defense Secretary Hagel demands rape reform in military
• Accuser in Air Force sexual assault case 'frustrated' at overturned verdict
• Army employs video game to help curb sex assaults; critics call it 'affront'

Courtesy of Pete Damon

Pete Damon and one of his many works, a depiction of a wounded warrior on a monoski.

An open letter from an armless Iraq War veteran to the amputee victims of the Boston Marathon bombing has gone viral thanks to his succinct, stirring words which offer a crisp portrait of post-injury life and unbridled hope.

His written depiction of human resilience is entirely within character: without arms, hands or fingers, Pete Damon, a Boston-area resident, later became a painter whose works have been displayed in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

“Although it's undeniably tragic, you will recover,” Pete Damon posted on his Facebook page this week. “In fact, this will be a defining moment in your life. In the coming days, weeks, and months, you will find a strength and resilience you never knew you had.”

That sentiment was shared by his Facebook friends, ultimately landing on a military website, picking up fresh social traction from there.

“I just want to make sure they know this isn’t a life-ending event for them. This may be something that brings out the best in them,” Damon said in a phone interview from his home in Middleborough, Mass., about 40 minutes south of Boston. “I'm sure many of them are having doubts and worries about the future. But they can look to us, to the veterans like me, for strength and that everything is going to be fine.”

Courtesy of Pete Damon

An oil painting by Pete Damon called "A Time for Honoring."

A former Massachusetts Army National Guard sergeant who grew up in the Boston area, Damon was inflating Black Hawk helicopter tire at a base in Balad, Iraq in 2003 when the wheel and its rim exploded. The blast severed his left wrist and right arm above the elbow. The accident killed Alabama Army National Guard Specialist Paul Bueche, who was 19 at the time.

An amateur sketch artist whose wife once shipped him colored pencils to help fill the lulls of war, Damon later taught himself how to paint in oil and watercolor — with his remaining left arm and a prosthesis. That craft initially made him feel normal, and then became tranquil therapy. His images are peaceful: moonlit harbors, autumn shadows on a white, New England home, a man fishing a rocky point. His pieces do not reflect the ugliness of combat.

“Watching the scene unfold on the streets of Boston Monday afternoon shook me to the core,” Damon said. “In particular, seeing the graphic images of the wounded. Even though I had been through the experience of seeing my own limbs torn to shreds, those images of other victims weren't easy to process. I immediately felt a sense of kinship with those people."

Courtesy of Pete Damon

A view of East Boston, in oil, by Pete Damon

He immediately flashed back on a hospital visit he'd received weeks after his horrific injury from a Vietnam veteran without arms, Jerry Miserandino. He watched a video of that same man climbing a rock wall using prosthetics. Damon realized anything was possible in his new body.

“That attitude lit a great fire of hope inside me,” Damon said. “I want to let (the Boston victims) see all the other great examples of veterans who have suffered similar wounds and have gone on to excel at many things. I want them to experience that same hope."