News Analysis

VFA News Analysis: September 26, 2008

The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan, which even top U.S. officials concede is not going well, is spilling dangerously into Pakistan. American and Pakistani troops traded gunfire Thursday, after Pakistani forces shot at two American helicopters. This makes for a troubling situation with Pakistan, which has received some $8 billion in U.S. military assistance since 9/11, now shooting at our forces.  Gen. David Petraeus says a “comprehensive approach” is needed now in Afghanistan as is “absolute engagement” with Pakistan. Afghanistan poses far different challenges than Iraq, Petraeus said. Indeed — it’s now far deadlier for our troops than Iraq. The citizens of Afghanistan want fewer troops in their country — with some saying US forces should focus on Pakistan instead.

Officials with the Department of Veterans Affairs came under withering criticism in Congress this week for delays in implementing new GI Bill benefits. The VA says it needs to hire a private contractor to get the work done in anything resembling a timely fashion. This is raising serious concerns in Congress. It’s prompting more scrutiny from VA’s watchdogs beyond the Hill as well.

A new book describes our veterans are “under siege.” With so much public support for our brave men and women in uniform, “why are so many discarded by the country they fought for?” the author asks.

Still no word if tonight’s scheduled presidential debate will still occur. The topic was supposed to be foreign policy — a deeply important topic with our military stretched over two wars overseas. But Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, announced he was suspending his campaign and wanted to delay debating because of the problems rocking financial markets.  McCain’s home-state National Guard is now deploying for Iraq,

National Guard advisors help with adjustments back into civilian life. It can be a very hard transition. Many of our Guard members don’t make it home.

VFA News Analysis: September 25, 2008

Perhaps the Department of Veterans Affairs’ one-year-old suicide prevention hotline isn’t doing enough? Credited with helping save some 1,600 lives, it may be able to help far more if so many non-veterans weren’t crowding the wires. The VA line piggybacks on the National Suicide Prevention Line and VA data shows that only 43 percent of those who had their calls routed to a VA counselor were actually veterans. Fort Drum highlights suicide prevention in a year set to break a sad record: the most Soldier suicides. The stress of combat also prompts too many of our Soldiers to self-medicate as well.

Iraq’s Parliament passed a long-delayed election law that could pave the way for provincial elections next year — but that avoided settling some of the most divisive political issues in the country. The thorny question of how to settle a violent dispute over control of the multi-ethnic and oil-rich northern city of Kirkuk was not dealt with. A provision granting some Iraqi provincial council seats to small religious and ethnic groups was eliminated, also prompting concerns.

Ethnic tensions in Iraq are still erupting with bloody frequency. On top of this fragile situation are claims of blatant political interference from the White House in a bid to sway U.S. elections. Iraq has a long way to go on its own still, including cleaning up its potable water infrastructure in the face of a rising number of cholera cases. Sadly for these cases and other victims of Iraq’s hard luck the Iraqi Red Crescent, the country’s top humanitarian organization, is too busy defending itself from charges of corruption and mismanagement these days to do much else.

The case of Indiana National Guardsmen potentially exposed to deadly chemicals while stationed in Iraq in 2003 is now, finally, under “senior review” by the Army.

They’re getting nostalgic for the Taliban in Afghanistan — not a good sign for US and NATO forces hoping to rout extremism.

Soldiers speak out about what the Iraq war is really like. Our National Guard Soldiers feel the strain. Flags will be lower in Colorado to honor a fallen National Guard Soldier.

Teachers learn to help kids of military families in Colorado.

VFA News Analysis: September 24, 2008

More questions are raised about just how successful the “surge” in Iraq has been. Using satellite data and demographics, scientists lay out the evidence that Iraq is becoming not more peaceful but more ethnically stratified — potentially leading the way to more Shiite-Sunni violence in the country.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said up to three more combat brigades will be able to go to Afghanistan starting in the spring — but no sooner, an indication of just how stretched U.S. forces are by the ongoing fight in the original war against those who plotted the Sept. 11 attacks as well as the ongoing war in Iraq. Yet the Taliban are expected to launch an offensive in the winter, well ahead of those planned troop increases. What’s more, the war in Afghanistan has for weeks been threatening to widen into northwestern Pakistan, where Pakistanis claimed Tuesday that they shot down a U.S. military drone. 

The National Guard, which is paying a high price for our continued deployment policies, mourned seven of its own killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq. We are pouring more of our brave Guard citizen-Soldiers into Iraq constantly — ringing up a lot of pain for tomorrow. A pilot study of post-traumatic stress among our National Guard members who have served in Iraq finds “significant” PTSD. The available statistics are troubling.

Congress appears to have defied the odds by reaching agreement in five days on a $605 billion defense policy bill that includes a 3.9 percent military pay raise and a number of benefit improvements. “We are going to finish that before we leave here,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

New VA policy gives new weight to the pain of traumatic brain injury (TBI), a signature wound in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. At last, a serious injury is given the serious attention it deserves.

Two military advisors to Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee for president, say an Obama administration will be better for the military and its veterans. Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, points to his biography to woo military and veterans voters.

VFA News Analysis: September 23, 2008

More than $13 billion earmarked for Iraqi reconstruction was stolen or wasted, according to a former Iraqi official. The official said a report of the frauds was sent to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other top Iraqi officials but was never published because “nobody cares.” We certainly care about the cost of this war on our own men and women — and the opportunity cost of a less-ready military and a still metastasizing situation in Afghanistan. 

Two U.S. Army sergeants apparently gunned down by a fellow soldier in Iraq earlier this month were apparently counseling the soldier before the violence erupted. The deaths were “a tragic and senseless loss of two professional soldiers…who were also husbands and fathers.”

In recognition of the National Guard’s nearly active-duty like role in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a Barack Obama administration would elevate the Guard to give it a seat at the table on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The promise, made by Sen. Joseph Biden, the Delaware Democrat who is Obama’s vice presidential running mate, was announced at the National Guard Association convention this weekend in Baltimore. The higher profile is deserved as 52 percent of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are Guard or Reserve members, Biden said. Defense Secretary Robert Gates saluted the Guard during his speech, noting just how widely deployed its men and women are. “Today, the Guard is engaged in more than 40 countries around the world, in places such as Bosnia, Kosovo, the Sinai, the Horn of Africa and Guantanamo Bay,” Gates said. Since 9-11, more than 660,000 Guard members have mobilized, the most since World War II. Spending on the National Guard, to help keep it deploying and used at the current breakneck pace, is now at a national record.  The Guard is also paying a very high price.

The insurgency in Afghanistan is growing, stretching thin U.S. and NATO forces ahead of an expectedly brutal winter of fighting. 2007 was three-times as bloody as 2006, and 2008 is already outpacing 2007 in violence.

Iraq’s Sunni-dominated Awakening Councils — the name given to militias on the U.S. payroll in Iraq who have helped tamp down on violence — are beginning to turn violent as the American military moves to transfer control of half the councils to the Shiite-led government. “Our government is after us,” says one militiaman. “We sacrificed hundreds of our sons to drive al-Qaeda out. Now the government says we are no different than the terrorists.” This civil strife could get much worse.

The Veterans Affairs Department is increasing benefits for mild brain trauma. This is the first time the VA has acknowledged that veterans suffering even less severe versions of the current wars’ signature wound will still struggle to earn a living. Too many of our veterans are returning from war zones with undiagnosed psychological problems — our veterans need more mental health screenings, a VA doctor tells the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Members of the longest-serving unit in Iraq look back. Almost 500 days at war and away from home.

Helping those who help veterans with PTSD and brain injuries.

VFA News Analysis: September 22, 2008

The saga of a military spouse, whose husband is on his second deployment to Iraq, and her commitment to her Family Readiness Group. “I’d heard the horror stories of FRG leaders who were stressed to the point of breaking. Rumors abounded about the wife one former commander who cried before and after every monthly FRG meeting, overwhelmed by all that the families expected of her.” The strain of war and ongoing deployments sting our military families hardest — we owe them more than this.

Gen. David Petraeus has been careful to avoid using the word “victory” when talking about Iraq. The American commentariat might want to consider the same caution. Iraq is fragile and will remain so until the Iraqis sort out everything.

The ongoing deployments to war zones that are grinding down our National Guard will continue as it is the only way to meet current policy, said Army Chief of Staff George W. Casey Jr., to the National Guard Association on Sunday during its annual meeting. He noted that 60,000-70,000 Guard members are deployed overseas and are critical to active-duty military plans. What about the health of our Guard, the readiness of our military and our preparedness for disaster at home? Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee for president, told the association that the Guard has met the challenges of the post 9-11 world. “At times, the Guard’s responsibilities exceed even the demands we put on our active-duty forces. And our government has certain obligations that it has not always kept,” he told the association, at its annual meeting in Baltimore this weekend. However, his talk about using the private sector to treat veterans has some concerned about potential government cuts in veterans health care funding. McCain’s voting record and positions have been criticized by Veterans groups before. McCain has opposed a number of veterans health bills supported by his opponent.

You would think that the current Justice Department would have plenty to do besides prosecuting the daughter of a disabled Vietnam veteran for pouring soda on a counter at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Boise, Idaho. You would be wrong.

The Last Tour: a decorated Marine’s war within. And, a Soldier returns home from war, only to find that the war followed him home. For those with the right support, veterans can turn their trauma into a message of help for others.

Examining the military suicide “epidemic.”