An update on the needs of America’s veterans

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    GUESTS: RICK MAZE, JACEY ECKHARDT, SUSAN SAIDEL

    According to the United States Census Bureau, there are over 21 million American military veterans as of 2012. This fall, military families made headlines after death gratuity and burial benefits were suspended, then restored, during the October government partial-shutdown. And this week Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel suggested military families may need to financially sacrifice even more than they do now as the Department of Defense is examining ways to cut their budget. How do military families make ends meet and cope when their family members come home with medical problems? What kind of legal resources are available to vets and do they know where to go to access them? And what is the Veterans Affairs Department doing to change the approximately 243 days to process a claim? Our guests are military reporter, RICK MAZE; JACEY ECKHART, Director of Spouse and Family Programs for Military.com and Editor of SpouseBuzz.com; and SUSAN SAIDEL, Director of the Veterans Law Clinic at the Widener University School of Law.

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