Veterans

Ithought I knew the cost of combat. I recommended plans to spend billions of dollars in Afghanistan from my desk at the White House Office of Management and Budget. But it was not until last month, as I stood on the tarmac at Tweed-New Haven Regional Airport in Connecticut watching my friend's flag-draped coffin come home, that I truly understood the price of war. Army Capt. Ben Sklaver, 32, was killed in a suicide attack in what was the deadliest month for U.S. soldiers since the war in Afghanistan began in 2001.

Remember the Suns and Mavericks panicking after the Lakers got Pau Gasol and breaking up their teams? Now it's the Cavaliers, swallowing hard as the once-thin arch-rival Celtics got Stephon Marbury and Mikki Moore. The Cavaliers had already passed up the biggest splash of all, walking away from Phoenix's Shaquille O'Neal, whom they could have gotten for J.J. Hickson and Wally Szczerbiak's expiring $13.8-million deal. Can we have a do-over on Shaq? Instead, the Cavaliers offered Ben Wallace's contract, which runs another year, and Sasha Pavlovic.

A Veterans Affairs patient who was among thousands treated with unsterilized equipment has tested positive for HIV, the first such case reported since the department warned veterans they could have been exposed to infectious diseases. The VA previously reported that hepatitis had been found in 16 patients, but the agency cautioned there was no way to prove that the patients contracted the illness because of treatment at their facilities. The VA this year warned more than 10,000 veterans to get blood tests because they could have been exposed to contamination while getting colonoscopies in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano defended an agency intelligence assessment warning that veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan could be susceptible to recruitment by right-wing extremists. Napolitano said on CNN's "State of the Union" that she regretted that some people had taken offense, but added that "a number of groups far too numerous to mention" were targeting returning veterans to carry out domestic attacks. The report mentioned Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Timothy McVeigh, a decorated Army veteran convicted of detonating an explosives-laden truck in front of the federal building, killing 168. McVeigh was executed in 2001.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano met with the American Legion to apologize for a right-wing extremism report written by her agency, and members of the veterans group walked away from the meeting mollified. Napolitano blamed one of her agency's analysts for prematurely sending out the intelligence assessment to law enforcement, according to Craig Roberts, an American Legion member who attended the meeting. The report warned that right-wing extremists could use the bad state of the American economy and the election of the country's first black president to recruit members.

A chance to have dinner with former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has swelled the coffers of an organization that aids wounded veterans. The top bid for dinner with Palin, the former Alaska governor, was $63,500. Palin offered the dinner as part of a charity auction on EBay for the Ride 2 Recovery program, which supports wounded veterans through cycling programs. All told, more than $95,000 was raised. There was no immediate word on who the top bidder was.

Re "Is the GI Bill just an IOU?" Opinion, Oct. 25 I served in the military for four years. I qualified, applied for and was approved for the Post-9/11 GI Bill. My enthusiasm has been tempered by the VA's inability to process claims. Please don't mistake me: I'm thrilled veterans are applying, which accounts for the delay. Six weeks is what I budgeted for. It has now been eight weeks (two billing cycles) and payment has yet to be received. When I call the VA, I am told "any day now."

Navy Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, canceled his plans to serve as grand marshal of the San Fernando Valley Veterans Day Parade because of the shootings at Ft. Hood. Mullen was raised in North Hollywood and had been looking forward to joining veterans from his former stomping grounds, he said in an interview before Thursday's shooting, which left 13 people dead and dozens wounded. "He wanted to do it," said a spokeswoman for Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village)

To a muddy field lashed by razor-sharp winds, about 50 brave Serbs have come home. Their houses here on the edge of an ethnic Albanian town have been repaired, or new ones built. A few rows of wheat and corn have been planted. But there are no jobs, no school, and danger lurks. Graffiti from shadowy anti-Serb militias scar the walls of nearby buildings.

In his dreams, Tu Tongjin is back on the battlefield, a terror-stricken young medic wandering the Chinese countryside with Mao Tse-tung and his fledgling Red Army. He is marching again, always marching. All around him are the bodies, including those of the 40,000 killed in one battle alone. He's starving, eating only grass. He feels the nagging cold and desperation of being hounded by death and pursued by a relentless enemy army. "What I remember most," the 94-year-old says, "is the chaos."