VFA News Analysis: April 30, 2008
Army officials said they would inspect barracks facilities worldwide in the wake of mold and decrepit conditions being found by a soldier’s father at Fort Bragg, N.C. The conditions at barracks at Fort Bragg were videotaped by the father who posted his findings to Youtube.com, eventually attracting the attention of elected officials and senior Army leadership.
The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are taking a serious toll on soldiers as well as their families, a new report from the American Psychiatric Association determined. It found that 32 percent of military members attribute their deployments to “at least some negative impact” on their mental health — compared with 40 percent of military spouses. It also found many in the military reluctant to seek help — because most feared it would harm their careers, or the careers of their spouses. This can reinforce a cycle of untreated mental health and family problems.
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said military readiness is his top priority – ahead of weapons modernization. Rep. Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat, said the best thing that can be done to improve soldier readiness is to leave Iraq as soon as possible.
As a surged level of U.S. forces remain in place to help his government foster reconciliation and political progress, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he would launch a new round of warfare against the Mahdi Army militia unless it lays down its arms. Maliki launched a crackdown last month against the Shi’ite militia, with mixed success. The militiamen remain in control in Sadr City, where heavy fighting has taken U.S. lives in recent weeks.
The science of understanding Traumatic Brain Injury is working to catch up with the caseload. MIT’s Technology Review provides a summary of where we stand, and what work is now being done to better understand and treat TBI.