New state program helps veterans get jobs, housing, education, health careThe mission of Operation Welcome Home is to connect the 30,000 recently discharged veterans and redeployed Reservists with employment benefits and other veterans’ services in 2010. It is a proactive, mobile program that will reach out to the veteran, rather than waiting for the veteran to call or walk into an office. Copter co-pilot takes shrapnel, earns Purple HeartCapt. Mary Jennings, an HH-60G Pave Hawk co-pilot for the 129th Rescue Squadron, received the Badge of Military Merit, also known as the Purple Heart, from Maj. Gen. Dennis J. Lucas, commander of the California Air National Guard, during a Dec. 6 ceremony in Santa Clara, Calif. |