Student Vets Get Pay -- and Pizza

Here's a real "Hooah" for the top leadership at the Veterans Affairs Department, who decided early on Friday to keep all 57 of the department's 57 regional offices open until every veteran waiting in line picked up an emergency GI bill check valued at up to $3,000.

Based on reports I have received from individual veterans and veterans groups, the Washington D.C. office on 1722 I Street N.W. was nearly overwhelmed by a crowd of 300 vets waiting for payment at about noon on Friday.

VA spokeswoman Katie Roberts told me that to speed processing on I street, VA dispatched more computers and staff to handle the crowd. And since it was lunch time, they ordered pizza for one and all, she said.

VA likely was able to quickly assess the situation at the Washington regional office because Roberts told me Deputy Secretary W. Scott Gould and Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs Tammy Duckworth were hanging out there to greet veterans.

Also in the crowd at the I Street office was Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., chairman of the House VA Committee, who showed up to say hello and also eyeball the emergency payment process.

Lines in other areas of the country were smaller, Roberts said, a fact confirmed by Ryan Gallucci, a spokesman for AmVets, a veterans service organization like the VFW or the American Legion. Gallucci said AmVets staffers at VA offices in Oakland, Calif.; Phoenix, Ariz.; Atlanta, and Winston-Salem, N.C., reported long lines early in the morning, but had disappeared by the end of the day.

As of 3 p.m. on Friday, VA had made 6,619 emergency payments to veterans at regional offices and another 6,752 had requested emergency payments online, Roberts said.

Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, gets high marks for the emergency payment program and described the decision to keep the office open until everyone gets paid "unprecedented."