"This book is a wake up call to the Nation but more importantly the new Obama administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs. From retrospective analysis to present day issues, this book spells out what was inherited and what needs to be done to fix it. This should be required reading for Congress and policy makers." -- Mr. Steve Robinson, Government Relations, Swords to Plowshares Author of The Hidden Toll of Iraq: Mental Heath and the Military "Much more than a reference handbook, Serving America's Veterans spotlights the need for major modifications in programs to treat veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. This well-organized and hard-hitting book is a must read for concerned citizens." -- Lt. General (USA, Ret.) Robert G. Gard, Ph.D., Chair, Board of Trustees, Center for Arms Control & Non-Proliferation "A must read for those who believe that America must live up to it's obligations for those who served. Larry Korb and his authors have hit all the key issues that effect care for veterans today." -- Gen. (Ret.) Wesley K. Clark, Former NATO Allied Supreme Commander Europe "Serving America's Veterans is a comprehensive diagnosis of the scope and scale of the issues we as a nation must tackle in order to properly care for all of our veterans. From soldiers just returning from Iraq and Afghanistan to veterans from earlier wars, this crucial work outlines the challenges we must confront to keep the faith with our US servicemen and women who have served so bravely and given so much and rightly expect the US government to fulfill its promises to them.' " -- Bob Edgar, president and CEO of Common Cause, and former six-term member of the US House of Representatives (1975 to 1987).

In this authoritative handbook, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense lays out the infrastructural, administrative, and health care challenges facing the Veterans Administration, policymakers, and our veterans themselves.

Serving America's Veterans: A Reference Handbook comes from an impeccable source—former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower, Reserve Affairs, Installations, and Logistics Lawrence J. Korb. Korb and his team of experts survey, analyze, and evaluate the infrastructural conditions, administrative and health care service challenges, policies, and politics affecting veterans affairs in the United States. They overview the historical context of contemporary veterans affairs and project the capabilities of the Veterans Administration to cope with the needs of active, reserve, and retired veterans. Most critically, they provide practical prescriptions and policy recommendations to address veterans' many, pressing needs.

The full spectrum of veterans issues is examined: changing personnel policies in the armed forces; unprecedented levels of National Guard and Reserve mobilization; societal reintegration and funding adequacy when the professional military is a relatively small fraction of the U.S. electorate; rising costs of medical technology; and the growing proportion of veterans with conditions requiring protracted rehabilitation or lifelong intensive care.

• Timeline
• Appendixes
• Glossary
• Annotated Bibliography