A suicide epidemic is tearing through our military ranks. We owe it to our troops and their families, as well as to our country, to make our psychologically wounded troops whole again. Our troops and families continue to pay an extremely steep price for continuous deployment policies. We’ve seen bailouts for Wall Street and AIG — how about for our suffering military families?

Visiting the wounded is an age-old tradition for military and political leaders — and so too are visits by families. The wounded lucky enough to have families to help them recover can still also use some additional help: welcome to the Yellow Ribbon Fund.

The war in Afghanistan rages on — even as the US is not planning to send more troops this year. One of our soldiers apparently has been captured by insurgents there. Our troops continue to patrol Iraq, even if the footprint has changed — and countless landmines remain. And militants in Pakistan are preaching anti-American hate to the civilians displaced by the country’s brewing civil war.

President Obama will spend the nation’s birthday celebrating with soldiers from Fort Campbell, KY. Happy Fourth of July.

How many veterans have to die on the homefront from lack of basic care before the nation is determined to do something about it. Our troops shouldn’t have to survive one war only to return home and have to fight another with the VA bureaucracy. The transition from war to “welcome back” is rarely easy. One way to begin clearing the epic backlog of veterans’ disability claims is to pay old claims.

For those who still think our Guard members are weekend warriors, remember they’re deploying nearly constantly and have the multiple wounds to prove it. The continuous deployments are hard on all of our troops, as well as their families.

The burn pits are proving toxic indeed — linked directly to the lung disease of a soldier.

Iraqis may be celebrating, President Obama sees difficulty after the withdrawal of US troops from Iraqi cities. There’s already been bloodshed of late. US troop levels may drop to 120,000 by the end of the year. There’s still a wag raging in Afghanistan, and Pakistan continues to boil.

Myths about President Obama and veterans health care — and the fabricated quotes circulating on the internet.

Continuous deployments for years have created deep strains in the ranks. This is bursting into the public consciousness in the form of military suicides and substance abuse. We owe our troops full relief, not ignorance and a baseless stigma. “I had spent eight years serving the military. I never got in trouble. Never did anything bad. And I got treated like I was a piece of crap because of [PTSD].“

PTSD. The nightmare cure? The surfing cure? The virtual reality cure? We need answers for our troops and their families and we need to help our suffering troops get well again. Is the VA minimizing mental health issues?

Deployments of our troops continue, continue, continue.

US officials are downplaying the possibility of keeping troops in Iraqi cities beyond the June 30 withdrawal date, despite violence that has renewed tensions across Baghdad and beyond. US troops are preparing for a surge — in violence. Meanwhile, the US and its NATO partners in Afghanistan must make a “cultural shift” to win the raging war there, says the new US commander in Afghanistan.

A year-long ban on burn pits?

The wife of Vice President Joe Biden is heading to Europe to meet with our military families. Jill Biden will visit them at installations in Germany and France and spend the Fourth of July with them.

A website for post-9/11 GI Bill transfers.

Iraq is still troubling our troops, even as blast walls come down in Baghdad. Pakistan continues to heat up. North Korea continues to worry the world.

Congress asks the CIA to review Gulf War illness data after learning that some 1.5 million documents exist detailing poisonous gas exposure during Operation Desert Storm.

California works to offer additional help to vets returning from war with mental health problems.

More science, and mystery, in studying traumatic brain injuries.

President Obama extends survivor indemnity allowance.

Advance funding for the VA moves one step closer to reality.

The Pentagon will soon unveil a new direction in war planning strategy to accommodate the reality of irregular warfare in modern conflicts. Ongoing strategy in Afghanistan has, thus far, not worked — at a steep price. Afghanistan is a contest, in more ways than one. And like everywhere else our troops are deploying too nearly constantly, the National Guard are also desperately needed in Afghanistan.

It’s not easy on the families left behind by war, either.

And the deployments continue, at the briskest pace in memory.

Three years ago, the VA established a state-of-the-art medical facility in Austin, Texas to research and treat combat-related brain injuries. Three million dollars later, the facility has yet to test a single veteran with traumatic brain injury and the VA has announced it is moving the facility to Waco. How has this helped our ailing and in-need combat veterans?

Civil society is coming slowly in Iraq — too slowly, for some, as Parliament has yet to take up a raft of laws to govern the war-ravaged country. It’s still a place of violence, too. Some are ready for the US to withdraw, others less so — but our war-weary, over-deployed troops are in dire need of rest and recuperation. And lets not forget Afghanistan - it’s still violent there, as well.

Everyone can help our combat-injured veterans adjust to life back home.

In the years since the wars began, traumatic brain injuries have reached critical levels as well. TBI is a “critical problem begging for new insight and new therapies.”

A new court in South Florida to help our troubled and traumatically injured veterans stay clear of the penitentiary.

Operation Relax. Trying to do whatever it takes to ease the epic stress our troops shoulder every day. The stresses are shared by their families back home — where staying busy helps take the edge off of the daily, grueling pressures.

Just how into their jobs are the members of the new Iraqi security forces? Meanwhile, Iran seems to be heading towards a boiling point. North Korea’s nuclear saber-rattling has Defense officials vowing to protect Hawaii from long-range rocket attacks. And al Qaeda’s grip on Somalia appears to be tightening with the latest deadly strike, this time taking out a government minister and dozens of others.

The Defense Department neither wants nor needs the extra $369 million for more fighter jets — particularly as it wages irregular wars against enemies that have no air force at all — but Congress is resistant. Couldn’t that money be better used improving the health and welfare of our troops, their families and communities?

A new initiative to help our legions of homeless veterans.

The strain on our troops from constant deployments to war is creating a dire need for fresh troops, and these recessionary times are providing some of them. But there’s a new challenge for the military developing: how to train older recruits who must fight with, and serve under, peers less than half their age. Constant deployments are also incredibly stressful on our military families that remain at home.

The “rocket man” of Iraq’s Green Zone is still launching missiles into the administrative heart of Baghdad but on the plus side, the number of detainees held by the US in Iraq is at a four-year low. For now, everything is on track for a withdrawal of American troops from Iraqi cities. Meanwhile, we have Somalia, which could get far worse before long, North Korea, Pakistan, and Yemen, among others. And there’s still Afghanistan to worry about.

The number of VA claims is about to reach one million.

Making some things easier for our military kids.

Military families: don’t let the scammers get you.

Oregon looks to help make the transition for veterans returning home a little easier.

Meanwhile, our troops are deploying to war nearly every day — many of them for their second, third, or even fourth, tours. This includes our National Guard members, who continue to deploy to war at a pace that recalls World War II.  And remember: we need our Guard ready and rested on the homefront for whatever may strike, from Mother Nature to human catastrophe.

Are we poisoning our troops with the use of burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan? Lawsuits against the contractor that operates many of the burn pits are piling up. Turning to contractors continues for the military, this time closer to home: the Army is privatizing temporary lodging facilities at 10 installations around the country.

Funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan moves closer to final approval in Congress.

Is the VA still mishandling potentially infectious medical gear, even after dozens of veterans contracted serious diseases due to the VA’s mishandling of medical gear?

The state of Nevada runs afoul of the Justice Department — and common sense — when it fired an Army Reservist from his job upon returning from his deployment last year and then backdating his firing when he complained. “The law is clear: Unnecessary delays and reprisal will not be tolerated,” said one Justice Department official who announced the filing of a lawsuit against Nevada.