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News Analysis
VFA News Analysis: May 12, 2008
The growing suicide rate among combat veterans is prompting concern, as it should, among a wider circle of officials, civilians and others worried about the fallout of the ongoing wars. Recent data indicates an average of 18 veterans commit suicide everyday. In California in 2006, 666 committed suicide, more than a fifth of all of the state’s suicides that year.
More attention is also falling on the ripple effect that long and multiple deployments are having across the military community and beyond. Families kept apart, children without parents, the strain of war — it’s keeping chaplains busy around the clock and highlighting shortcomings in mental health care treatment available.
Despite a cease-fire agreement, U.S. forces battled Shiite militiamen in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood. The U.S. military has repeatedly expressed hopes that peace can be worked out in the last seven weeks as fighting in the neighborhood of about half the capital’s six million people rages.
It will be a reunion of sorts for mother and son, but not the sort most families dream of. Sgt. Carmen Villegas, a combat medic, was transferred two weeks ago to the same New Jersey National Guard unit as her son, Sgt. Felipe Diaz. They’ll both be among nearly 3,000 soldiers of the 50th Infantry Brigade Combat Team heading to Iraq in September. About half of the state’s entire National Guard is preparing to deploy this year.
VFA News Analysis: May 9, 2008
The future of a proposed boost to veterans’ benefits was dealt a setback when some members of Congress complained the expensive new measure lacked a source of funding. The measure which is still the focus of debate on Capitol Hill, would provide education benefits along the lines of the G.I. Bill, which helped tens of thousands of veterans from World War II earn college degrees. The new education benefit is being championed by Sen. Jim Webb, a Virginia Democrat and Vietnam War veteran. The benefit would entitle veterans with at least three years of service to a full ride at any public university in the country — about twice the value of the current average benefit.
The Army recently transferred $248 million from other programs to begin fixing dilapidated and toxic barracks at eight installations around the country. The move follows an embarrassing episode for the service, which was shamed by a video posted by a soldier’s father to Youtube.com showing what appeared to be sewage in the barracks of paratroopers at Fort Bragg, N.C.
It can be hard for veterans with mental health needs to even admit they’re in need. Stigmas must be broken down so that such conditions can be seen as the wounds they are. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has called post-traumatic stress disorder in troops “unseen wounds” of war.
A new medical facility specifically designed for troops with traumatic brain injuries is set to open at Camp Pendleton, California. About 720 Marines at the installation suffer from TBI, according to military officials. The soon-to-open facility will be a part of the Navy Medicine West Office of Neurotrauma. The University of California at San Diego is also joining the effort to treat TBI, a signature injury of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for U.S. servicemembers.
VFA News Analysis: May 8, 2008
The U.S. deployed more than 43,000 troops to combat who were listed as medically unfit to do so in the years since 2003, Pentagon records show. The reliance on troops determined to be “non-deployable” is another symptom of the strain on the military. “It is a consequence of the consistent churning of our troops,” said VFA’s Bobby Muller. “They are repeatedly exposed to high-intensity combat with insufficient time at home to rest and heal before redeploying.”
About a day after Department of Veterans Affairs officials were grilled by a Congressional panel over their lack of proper care for traumatized veterans, a VA official declared that new benefits for vets that congress is considering would be extremely difficult to implement within two years. Keith Pedigo, VA’s associate deputy undersecretary for policy and program management, said meeting an Aug. 9, 2009 start date to begin offering the so-called 21st Century GI Bill of Rights would not be likely.
Tuesday was military spouses day, marked with a speech by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Planners dream of a five star hotel for Baghdad’s Green Zone.
Meanwhile, authorities say Baghdad should prepare for an exodus of thousands from the city’s eastern neighborhoods. Two football stadiums are on stand-by to receive the flood of people expected to flee fighting in Sadr City. In the last seven weeks around 1,000 people have died and more than twice that amount injured — mostly civilians.
VFA News Analysis: May 7, 2008
Our troops and their families are now in the middle of the Pentagon vs. Congress showdown over an emergency war funding bill with Defense Department officials threatening that soldier payrolls will be empty after June 15 without Congressional action. Rep. John Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who chairs the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, chided the Pentagon for making an empty threat and said military paychecks are not at risk.
One item in the emergency war funding bill with bipartisan Congressional support calls for expanding benefits for veterans of the post-9/11 era, including boosting pay for college along the lines of the G.I. Bill. ”This is an effort to say ‘Thank you,’” said Rep. David Obey, a Wisconsin Democrat who is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
Nonetheless, there are opponents of the measure, including President Bush.
Across Capitol Hill, officials with the Department of Veterans Affairs met severe criticism for their handling of suicidal veterans in their care.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates agrees that the Purple Heart should be considered for those who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.
There are some signs a new round of massive civil upheaval is approaching in Baghdad as targeted assassination attempts and migration by residents out of their neighborhoods are on the rise. A continued rise in violence could spell problems for the current surge and pause strategy.
VFA News Analysis: May 6, 2008
Suicides and “psychological mortality” among U.S. soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are poised to surpass battlefield deaths, according to the U.S. Institute of Mental Health. Of the 1.6 million American soldiers deployed to Iraq and/or Afghanistan, about one-fifth, or 300,000, show symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression or both. An estimated 70 percent of those affected will not seek help.
The U.S. Army is strained by the war in Iraq – so much so, according to some, that the mission in Afghanistan will suffer because of it. The Army is in a “zero-sum state.” Extended tours, the surge of forces in Iraq and other issues have hamstrung the flexibility of U.S. military planners. Only a few options exist, and they’re painful, to remedy the problem. These include mobilizing the entire Guard and Reserves, which has never been done before, or sacrifice the U.S. mission elsewhere like South Korea.
That strain is noted not merely by analysts, but military officers as well.
The effects of the strain are confounding military planners seeking to bolster Afghan forces.
VFA’s work at Fort Drum, N.Y., highlighting the ever-mounting shortage of mental health care resources continues to serve as a “canary in a coal mine” for the problems facing the military at large. The military and experts agree that there are too few therapists to treat soldiers who are increasingly bringing trauma with them back from the battlefields.
