Not Time To Arm Syrians, Pentagon Chief Says
(Reuters.com) Defense Secretary Leon Panetta defended the Obama administration's decision not to arm the Syrian opposition, saying the country risked being pushed into an all-out civil war if efforts to secure a smooth political transition fail.
McKeon: Congress 'Not Mature Enough' To Stop Sequestration
(Stripes.com) The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee expects Congress to "kick the can down the road" by delaying the dramatic defense budget cuts set to start in January.
'Invisible War' Fights For Military Rape Victims
(Washington Post) Documentary filmmaker Kirby Dick's "The Invisible War" is a study of rape in the U.S. military that leaves viewers weeping and seething.
Political 'Dysfunction' Threatens US Security: Panetta
(Yahoo.com) The "dysfunction" in the US Congress, where Republicans and Democrats have failed to compromise on debt reduction, threatens US national security, according to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. "One my greatest concerns as secretary is the dysfunction that we see in Washington," he said late Thursday at a ceremony in which he received an award for public service.
Pentagon Recommends Tiered System For Combat Pay
(Norfolk Virginian-Pilot) A Pentagon review recommends ridding the combat pay system of inequities that have allowed officers thousands of miles from battle to get better benefits proportionally than troops on the front lines in Afghanistan.
Trained By SEALs
(Time) When a navy SEAL tells you to get wet, you'd better soak yourself real good.
Preventing Military Suicides Focus Of Panel
(UTSanDiego.com) A recurring theme from the family members who spoke was military services' failure to provide appropriate and timely mental health care to service members who had sought help.
Health Care Is A Huge Drain, Military Says
(Philadelphia Inquirer) Army Undersecretary Joseph Westphal's Power Point slide showing the Pentagon procurement process flashed on the screen, prompting laughter from the audience at this week's Wharton Leadership Conference at the University of Pennsylvania.
Crackdown On Abuse Of Military Borrowers
(Washington Post) Federal financial regulators on Thursday moved to tighten oversight of how mortgage companies handle loans for servicemembers who are underwater and forced to transfer to new bases.
Study Says Pentagon Budget Cuts Would Destroy 1 Million Jobs
(Washington Post) Across-the-board budget cuts set to hit the Pentagon in January would destroy nearly 1 million jobs by 2014, with Virginia, California and Texas absorbing the biggest hits, according to an analysis released Thursday by the National Association of Manufacturers.
In Need, In New York
(NYTimes.com) One in seven homeless people have previously served in the military. This year, at 25, I became one of those homeless veterans.
Air Force Sends Home C-27J Cargo Planes
(AirForceTimes.com) The two C-27J cargo planes deployed to Afghanistan have been shuttling supplies and troops all across the country for the last 11 months, but their work is being cut short.
Pentagon Expansion Of Acquisition Staff Hurt By Funding Uncertainties
(GovExec.com) The Defense Department's ongoing effort to expand and better train its ranks of acquisition employees has been hindered by shifts in funding and the absence of an overarching strategy, auditors said in a report released Thursday.
Army Told To Spend Or Lose Mobile Tech Funds
(Washington Times) The Pentagon is planning deep spending cuts this year to a new mobile computing network for soldiers - a move that critics say punishes Army technology buyers for not spending appropriated funds fast enough.
Army Court Denies Group Access To Manning Files
(ArmyTimes.com) An Army appeals court has denied a request for public access to military court records in the case of an Army private charged with sending classified U.S. government documents to the secret-sharing website WikiLeaks.
An Army Flier To The End
(Washington Post) John C. Pratt, who died in Afghanistan last month, always wanted to be a pilot.
Peralta's Medal Of Honor Case At DOD, Again
(U-T San Diego) The case for a posthumous Medal of Honor for a San Diego Marine killed in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2004 has landed on the desk of the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.
Training Boss Ousted In Lackland Sex Scandal
(San Antonio Express-News) The Air Force on Wednesday relieved the commander of a basic training squadron in which three instructors have been accused of illicit sexual contact with recruits.
Gays In Military Called Settled Issue
(Philadelphia Inquirer) The Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said Thursday that allowing gays to serve openly in the military is a settled issue that he will not try to reverse even if Mitt Romney wins the presidency in November and the GOP captures the Senate.
Pentagon Gets Attention, But Planned Spending Cuts Range Far And Wide
(New York Times) But other government programs are facing equally large cuts, though they have received a scintilla of the attention and outrage that the planned Pentagon cuts have attracted.
Vietnam Law On Contested Islands Draws China's Ire
(New York Times) In a show of its resolve in a dispute over the South China Sea, China sharply criticized Vietnam on Thursday for passing a law that claims sovereignty over the Paracel and Spratly Islands, saying they are the "indisputable" territory of China.
US, Japan Begin Naval Drills Near China
(Financial Times) The US, Japan and South Korea began joint naval exercises in waters near China and the Korean Peninsula on Thursday, underscoring efforts to tighten military co-operation between the three nations.
Crashes Fuel Uproar In Japan Over US Aircraft
(MiamiHerald.com) While saying the U.S. takes Japan's concerns seriously, a Pentagon spokesman on Thursday said the U.S. stands by the aircraft. "The Osprey is a highly capable aircraft with an excellent operational safety record," Pentagon press secretary George Little said.
US Drone Attacks Threaten 60 Years Of International Law, Says UN Official
(The Guardian (UK)) The US policy of using aerial drones to carry out targeted killings presents a major challenge to the system of international law that has endured since the second world war, a United Nations investigator has said.
Poland Shaken By Case Alleging An Illicit CIA Prison
(Los Angeles Times) For years, the idea seemed unthinkable, absurd. A secret U.S. detention center in a remote corner of Poland, where Al Qaeda suspects were brutally interrogated by the CIA? About as likely as "the Loch Ness monster," is how one Pole described it recently.
Lawyers For Guantanamo Prisoner Say Canada Stonewalling On Khadr
(MiamiHerald.com) Lawyers for the last remaining Western detainee at Guantanamo Bay are urging Canada's Conservative government to stop "stonewalling" the
Uruguay Considers Selling Marijuana
(Wall Street Journal) Uruguay is showing a novel approach to Latin America's growing fatigue with the war on drugs with a new proposal: normalize marijuana use and hand over its distribution and marketing to the government.
Clinging To Hope On Iran
(Washington Post) Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak sat down this week with The Washington Post's Lally Weymouth.
A Marriage Of Convenience
(National Journal) Egypt's Islamists and generals don't want to admit it, but they need each other more than they--and their people--need a confrontation.
Washington Watching Egypt With Aid Stick Behind Back
(NationalJournal.com) The Obama administration has one form of leverage over Egypt's increasingly power-hungry military rulers: the $1.3 billion in annual U.S. aid to Cairo. Despite a power grab by the generals, however, there are few signs that the White House is preparing to use it by cutting or freezing the funds.
A Path For Global Justice
(Washington Post) The United States is not a party to the Rome treaty and will not join anytime soon. Still, Congress should revise legislation it passed in 2002 because of fears that the court might prosecute U.S. personnel. These outdated restrictions hinder the executive branch's ability to support the court's prosecutions of international war criminals.
Heed Sentiment On Osprey
(Japan Times) The government should not force the deployment of the Osprey unless the Okinawan people agree.
Sanctions Against Iran
(New York Times) Iran, always playing the angles, is still trying to figure out how much economic pain it is willing to accept to maintain its nuclear ambitions and what, if anything, it is willing to give up. It is in the interest of the United States and its allies to keep talking, especially since a new round of sanctions are scheduled to go into effect.
Coming Home, Without Homes
(Boston Globe) While homelessness has actually fallen since 2009, thanks to more aggressive efforts to keep vulnerable families in their homes, the number of homeless female veterans has doubled.
Skeptics doubt VA's claim of breakthrough on claims backlog. Veterans Affairs officials say they’re poised to make a major breakthrough on the department’s massive claims backlog, but skeptical lawmakers and veterans advocates say they’ve heard such proclamations before.
America, Pakistan and the impact of never having to say sorry. Say you're sorry. That's what the Pakistani government says it wants from the United States in order to jump-start a number of initiatives between the two countries that would help the hunt for al-Qaida in Pakistan and smooth the end of the war in Afghanistan.
Retirement may unleash PTSD symptoms in Vietnam veterans. It took Sam Luna more than 35 years to get treatment for his post-traumatic stress disorder. “I didn’t realize anything was wrong,” the combat-wounded Vietnam veteran said. “I thought I had adjusted well after I came back. I had a job, I had a family, everything looked great from the outside.”
Documentary looks at post-service challenges of female troops. The film tracks the post-military lives of eight female servicemembers, chronicling their struggles with things like homelessness, marriage troubles, and PTSD.
Upstate veterans question process to select VA officer. Spartanburg Herald Journal
More than 40 veterans questioned the appointment process for the ... director of the South Carolina State Office of Veterans Affairs, speaks to veterans Tuesday at ... applicants with local representatives from the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign ...
Reducing The Risk Of Outpatient Medical Errors. Houston Chronicle "Patient safety research has largely focused on hospitals. Efforts to improve safety in outpatient settings such as doctor's offices, though improving, are still a work in progress says Dr. Hardeep Singh, chief of the Health Policy and Quality Program at the Houston VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Excellence, in the June issue of the institute's Health Policy Research newsletter." The Chronicle says a "recent American Medical Association report on ambulatory patient safety...heavily cited the research of a team led by Singh."
Advanced Technology Identifies "Core" Brain Abnormality In Gulf War Illness. 91 Outcomes "A discovery by a Minneapolis medical researcher may lead to a new test to help identify Gulf War Illness," or GWI. Dr. Aposotolos Georgopolous of the Veterans Affairs hospital in Minneapolis used "sophisticated brain mapping equipment and techniques called magnetoencephalography (MEG)" to find a "unique visual signature of a 'core' brain abnormality in GWI." Hardie adds, "Following on the heels of a presentation of new research findings by Dr. Dane Cook showing powerful objective evidence -- functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) -- of dysfunction in the brains of ill veterans of the 1991 Gulf War," Dr. Robert Haley, "one of the pioneers in the field of Gulf War Illness research," recently "presented an overview of findings" that "dovetailed" what Cook found.
Dempsey Looks To The Future In A Time Of Budget Constraints. American Forces Press Service "As fiscal constraints reshape priorities, the military will become a leaner force but one still able to provide the nation's leaders with options, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said" on Tuesday. While speaking to "an audience at the National Press Club" in Washington, DC, US Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey "noted the drawdown of troops from Afghanistan and also said about 120,000 personnel will transition out of the military in the next decade. This will prompt an important linkage between DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs and other organizations that assist service members migrating into the private sector."
Pentagon, VA Seek Input On EHR Application To Help Manage Lab Tests. iHealthBeat The Defense Department and Veterans Affairs recently "issued a request for information regarding the development of a laboratory information application within their integrated electronic health record system, or iEHR system." In "related news, DOD and VA also have issued an RFI regarding the development of a pharmacy information application within their iEHR system."
Loneliness May Bring Early Disability And Death, Study Suggests. Bloomberg News "Living to a healthy old age may depend on your ties to family, friends and community, according to research that finds lonely older adults are more likely to die sooner than their more social peers. Loneliness in adults age 60 and older was associated with a 45 percent higher risk of dying over six years, according to research published...in the Archives of Internal Medicine" on Tuesday. A separate study led by Deepak Bhatt, chief of cardiology at the VA Boston Healthcare System, "showed that people living alone with heart disease were 25 percent more likely to die from the illness and 27 percent more likely to die of any cause." During a phone interview, Bhatt said, "If physicians get into the habit of asking patients if they're living alone, that might impact the care given."
Walk Test May Help Predict Cardio Risk. MedPage Today "The 6-minute walk test may improve cardiovascular risk prediction in patients with stable coronary heart disease, researchers found." Findings of the Heart and Soul Study were "reported online in Archives of Internal Medicine." The study was supported in part "by a grant from the Department of Veterans Affairs (Epidemiology Merit Review Program)."
New Research Provides Images Of Brain Dysfunction In Ill Gulf War Veterans. 91 Outcomes Anthony Hardie notes, "Cutting edge research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison is providing new pictorial evidence of marked brain dysregulation in Gulf War veterans suffering from chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain (CMP), one of the most commonly reported symptoms of Gulf War Illness. According to lead researcher Dr. Dane Cook of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Madison VA Hospital, his research team's findings also suggest potential avenues for treatment aimed at 'resettting' the dysregulated functioning in the brains of ill Gulf War veterans." Hardie adds, "Much of Cook's team's work has focused on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the brains of Gulf War veterans, including before and after exercise, and during application of painful stimuli."
Official Says VA Has Taken Steps To Improve Program. WMC-TV "The feds are reorganizing Veterans Affairs after more than 100 employees were arrested over the past decade. Two of those employees siphoned money from 10 Memphis veterans" who were part of VA's fiduciary program. In a statement, "Jan Northstar with the Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs" said VA has "taken significant efforts to protect Veterans and other beneficiaries in its Fiduciary Program. Over the past three years, we have been extremely aggressive at targeting and deterring fiduciary misuse" by, among other things, "enhancing oversight of misuse cases by closer review from VA Central Office."
A welcoming home for our Troops.
