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Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield prepare to welcome MG Anthony A. Cucolo III as the incoming 3D Infantry Division Commander.


By Joe Parker Jr.
Courier Correspondent
jparkerjr@coastalcourier.com
Posted: April 7, 2008  9:03 a.m.
Updated: April 7, 2008 9:03 a.m.


Maj. Gen. Anthony A. Cucolo III will be the next commanding general of Fort Stewart and the Third Infantry Division, the Department of Defense announced Thursday.
Cucolo will succeed Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, whose two-year tour of duty ends this summer.
Cucolo will be coming to Fort Stewart from the Pentagon where he is chief of public affairs for the Army.
Hinesville Mayor Jim Thomas, a retired Army officer and Fort Stewart civil servant recalls Cucolo and said locals "don't really have to fully educate" him about the area.
"I think with him you get a great officer, a great commander and he'll be a credit to the city."
The new commander has served at Fort Stewart before. He was a staff officer and then a company commander here from 1985 to 1988. Cucolo has also commanded a 3rd ID brigade. From 1999 to 2001 he was commander of the 3rd ID's 3rd Brigade, which is stationed at Fort Benning.
A mid-summer change-of command ceremony is expected. No new assignment has been announced for Lynch.
Cucolo is a graduate of the Military Academy at West Point and holds a master's degree in organizational management from the University of San Francisco.
His post as Army chief of public affairs will be filled by an officer well known to many in the Liberty County area, Maj. Gen. Kevin Bergner. From 2000 to 2002 Bergner was commander of the division's artillery at Fort Stewart.
Bergner will be going to the Pentagon PR job from duty as spokesman for the Multi-National Force in Iraq. Before that he was a special assistant to the president and served with the National Security Council.
The office of the Army chief of staff announced the assignments of Cucolo and Bergner along with 10 other general officer assignments on April 1, but Friday evening no news release had been issue

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Veterans' Disability Benefits Topic at Senate Hearing

A hearing before the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs focused mainly on the recommendations of the congressionally-mandated Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission.

The Commission, charged with studying laws related to veterans and survivor compensation and assistance and the VA’s implementation of those laws, released its report late last year.  The report contained over 100 recommendations covering a wide range of topics including healthcare, claims processing, disability payments and treatment for veterans’ with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.

LTG James Terry Scott, USA, Ret., the Commission chairman testified that the commission favors a sliding scale of benefit increases for quality of life that would top off at a 25 percent increase for completely disabled veterans, a recommendation applauded by AUSA.

However, it was noted by the Committee’s ranking member Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., that changes to the disability system have not come quickly in the past and that similar recommendations were made by a commission headed by Gen. Omar Bradley in 1956!

Sen. Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii said that changes to the current system will not be dealt with quickly.  Congress “must undertake a thoughtful and deliberate review and analysis of the many matters at issue and then work to develop legislation, said Akaka.

In a statement released after the hearing, Sen. Burr said, “We cannot continue to ignore the need for modernization.  We need to create a system for today’s veterans and not leave them with a system that was outdated before they were even born.  I hope we can all work together to find the best way to modernize this system for all veterans.”

He added.  “It is a failure of the highest magnitude if we don’t provide these heroes, who have sacrificed so much for their country, with the benefits and services they need and deserve to return to full, active, and productive lives.”

AUSA strongly agrees. 

To see the Commission’s complete report, visit their website at www.vetscommisson.org