News Analysis: February 12, 2009
The soaring rate of suicide in the military ranks is troubling, though perhaps not surprising given the extreme stress our repeatedly-deployed, inadequately-rested troops face every waking moment. That this grim trend seems to have spread to the US Military Academy at West Point is beyond depressing. The new readiness must mean focusing on the health and well-being of our troops. A bill guaranteeing longer dwell time is a good start, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-CA.
What’s needed is a surge on vets claims to clear long backlogs and get treatment as fast as possible to our war-wounded. It’s not just our active-duty troops who are in need. A backgrounder on the VA for new Secretary Eric Shinseki, courtesy of a veteran who knows how the organization really operates. Expect a sizable demand long into the future for veterans’ health care.
Our National Guard forces have been fighting at a nearly active-duty pace for years. And it’s not just war and trauma they’ve been exposed to: Oregon Guard members may have been exposed to toxic, carcinogenic chemicals while in Iraq. Already, Indiana Guard members have feared the same thing from their time in Iraq.
John Needham returned from Iraq suffering serious combat stress, a survivor of war and a suicide attempt. Desperately needed psychological treatment would’ve helped him recover. His experiences with PTSD after the war at Fort Carson are not happy ones.
With the economy reeling, more and more of those in need are turning to military enlistments to provide the necessary care for their families. This will only increase the need for the military to focus on the health and well-being of military members and their families.
Afghanistan continues to trouble, as now comes word that the US and its allies are struggling to track Afghan weapons — and largely in the dark about how many US-supplied arms ended up with the Taliban. President Obama’s envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, has his work cut out for him, arriving one day after a deadly and coordinated Taliban strike in Kabul. Meanwhile, US supply routes into Afghanistan are being squeezed from two directions: Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan. And Pakistan is turning into a raging, open-ended headache, with the potential for more nuclear exports. Iraq isn’t a cakewalk yet, either. And let’s not forget North Korea or Iran.
Too many contractors working for the Pentagon? The Government Accountability Office suspects so.