Veterans For America

Saying weak governance is a challenge for Afghanistan as it seeks to rebuild itself is an understatement. Afghanistan is a mess, with coordinated suicide strikes hitting deep inside the Kabul-based government. Simply supplying our forces in Afghanistan is becoming a battle of sorts, now that the Krygyzstan government is closing a key US resupplying base and sometime-friend sometime-foe Russia is saying it may allow shipments to Afghanistan from its soil. And then there’s Pakistan. Meanwhile, President Obama is expected to soon approve a new troop buildup in Afghanistan. 

In Iraq, there’s uncertainty over “The Sons of Iraq.” What if the “Sons” militias which worked alongside US forces continue to have friction with Iraqi Army forces? Perhaps the French want a piece?

One bill in Congress would provide free lifetime military health care to the spouses of service members killed in combat. Another idea circulating in Congress is placing limits on veterans’ health care benefits to cut federal spending.

How to help a vet. The trauma of war can last far beyond the battlefield.

Strain is hitting the National Guard from two sides now: its forces are deploying nearly constantly to maintain operations in two war zones and it fell short of its January recruiting target. One Oregon Guard member has served in Vietnam and now in Iraq.

The new administration is reviewing the photo ban on military coffins — what some have argued amounts to keeping the bloody cost of war policies hidden from public view.

The National Security Council and NATO must adapt to the world’s threats, said National Security Advisor James Jones, the retired Marine general tapped by President Obama.