VHA physicians, nurses, and health care givers provide nearly five million Veterans, and their families, with quality medical care every year. Our personnel practice all medical specialties and provide medical and rehabilitative treatment of all kinds, from acute to long term care. We're especially proud of VHA's preeminent role in educating physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals. More than half of the physicians currently practicing in the United States received some part of their training in one of our care facilities.

VBA also provides home loan guaranty, education, and insurance programs. We maintain 57 regional offices in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. Today, more than 13,000 VBA employees are translating the promises of the GI Bill into tangible advantages for Veterans. These committed professionals include specialists in education, home loans, vocational rehabilitation, insurance, information technology, and finance and budget management. Here at VA, your skills can really make a difference!

Veterans, their spouses, and dependent children are eligible for burial in VA's national cemeteries. The NCA will provide a headstone or marker for Veterans buried in any cemetery in the world, and will also present Presidential Memorial Certificates bearing the President's signature to acknowledge and commemorate the memory of honorably discharged and deceased Veterans. We recently completed the largest expansion in its history with the establishment of six national cemeteries in 2009, for a total of 131 in 39 states and Puerto Rico. Many existing cemeteries are being expanded. State Veterans' cemeteries are being built and expanded with funding assistance from VA.