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More than 6,000 Alaska Natives served without pay in the Alaska Territorial Guard, a response to Japan's 1942 foray into the Aleutian Islands. Members were finally granted veterans status in 2000. Now, the Department of Veterans Affairs is trying to ensure that the elderly survivors get their rightful benefits.

Twenty-two million Americans served in the military, but the vast majority are from the Vietnam and Korea generations. They're getting older now, and many live in rural or remote places like Alaska.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is being criticized for the shortfall in care for almost a million veterans who can't get timely compensation and have been waiting hundreds of days for help, often to no avail. But the agency says it's making progress.

If they want to, veterans can buy insurance coverage on the new state-based marketplaces to supplement their coverage from the Veterans Health Administration system.

The magazine argues that the care veterans do receive is bare bones and insufficient. A story about the bin Laden "shooter" asserted that the elite service member would get no benefits from the military.

The man who Esquire reports shot Osama bin Laden will retire and receive no government benefits, not even protection for his family.

For a veteran returning home from Afghanistan or Iraq, the mental trauma of having killed someone can be just as devastating as physical injury. The Department of Veterans Affairs has called the problem "moral injury," but some vets think that phrase minimizes the horror of killing. Last week, Timothy Kudo, a former Marine captain, wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post about grappling with moral injury. He shares his experiences with Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin.

Attorney General Eric Holder, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki plan to remain with President Obama's administration as his second term begins, according to a White House official.

The Department of Veterans Affairs wanted to reduce a backlog in veterans' claims for disability benefits. Instead, the problem has worsened this year, in part, the VA says, because the department made it easier for more vets to file claims.

The epidemic of post-traumatic stress disorder has pushed the VA to explore new and sometimes unorthodox treatments. In one VA facility in Menlo Park, Calif., veterans of current and past wars gather to meditate and break down the shields that combat forced them to hold.