The following Omaha.com article documents recommendations from the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force to reduce the active-duty troop force significantly. This orients with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel’s recent proposal to reduce the size of active-duty Army personnel from 520,000 to 440,000.
Invariably, some active-duty personnel will continue to serve in the reserves or National Guard; however, a large portion will leave service completely. With forty-five (45) percent of recently discharged veterans filing disability claims for compensation before the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the majority of recently discharged veterans being eligible for medical coverage before the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the question becomes can an already an already-taxed VA system support the number of new veterans?