The Congressional fight to expand benefits to servicemembers – a revamping of the classic G.I. Bill — continues. The plan, pitched by Democrats, would essentially guarantee a full-ride scholarship to any in-state public university, plus a monthly housing stipend, for those who have served in the military for at least three years.

Thankfully, more U.S. servicemembers are surviving their injuries in combat than in previous wars — but more are suffering from neglected, and treatable, brain injuries.

Despite a cease-fire, fighting raged between U.S. troops and militiamen in Baghdad’s Sadr City, a Shiite neighborhood home to about half of the capital’s residents. The clashes occurred mere hours after a ceasefire was inked between the Iraqi government and Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr.

A South Carolina grandmother’s homemade anti-stress dolls are winning admirers, and absorbing some of the stress of deployments.

Here’s a surefire sign that our government doesn’t really care about what sort of war we’re fighting, just as long as we’re fighting: According to USA Today:

“More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway.” Why? Well, Bobby Muller, president of Veterans For America, says it’s “a consequence of the consistent churning of our troops,” adding, “They are repeatedly exposed to high-intensity combat with insufficient time at home to rest and heal before redeploying.”

Good to know it’s not just felons and the functionally illiterate we’re sending into war zones, not to mention the security contractors we’re throwing money at to do the jobs for which the Army doesn’t have enough troops.

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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.

The jump coincides with the extension of combat tours from 12 to 15 months.

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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.

WASHINGTON — More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show.

This reliance on troops found medically “non-deployable” is another sign of stress placed on a military that has sent 1.6 million servicemembers to the war zones, soldier advocacy groups say.

“It is a consequence of the consistent churning of our troops,” said Bobby Muller, president of Veterans For America. “They are repeatedly exposed to high-intensity combat with insufficient time at home to rest and heal before redeploying.”

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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.

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.

More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show.

Bobby Muller was quoted in the article - here is the full text of what we shared with the reporter.
“We cannot allow injured troops to redeploy to a war zone. It is unconscionable. By doing so, our military is knowingly compounding the war-related injuries of our troops.

This has been one of our chief concerns from day one  - it is a consequence of the consistent churning of our Troops – they are repeatedly exposed to high-intensity combat with insufficient time at home to rest and heal before redeploying and unfortunately, when they are at home between tours, they are suffering from the neglect of a greatly overburdened military health-care system.

Veterans for America has worked with many troops across the country who are deployed or scheduled to deploy without the opportunity to heal and recover from their combat injuries. Our military is under incredible stress and the commanders in charge of units scheduled to deploy are under great pressure to hold their units together and maintain specified percentages.  Often times, in an attempt to maintain and comply with troop levels – the unseen wounds of war such as concussive and mental health injuries will take a back seat to more visible injuries. These wounds are no less sever and we stand to irrevocably damage the lives of these troops if we do not begin to better understand the gravity of these injuries.

We have a crisis in pipeline that we as a country are just beginning to understand and appreciate.”

New Policy Urges Soldiers To Seek Mental Health Care

Jason Forrester, Veterans for America’s Director of Policy, participated in a roundtable discussion of developments in how the US military is coping with mental health issues on PBS’s NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

VFA is pleased to have the opportunity to shed light on the issues that American servicemembers face when they return from Iraq and Afghanistan. While we applaud Secretary of Defense Robert Gates for removing “Question 21″ from the security clearance application form, VFA believes that this is a small first step towards reducing the stigma of psychological wounds in the US Armed Forces. Read a transcript of the discussion after the jump.

PBS: The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

VETERANS FOR AMERICA RELEASES TWO REPORTS IN ADVANCE OF PETRAEUS HEARINGS

Veterans for America’s Wounded Warrior Outreach Program is pleased to announce the release of two first-of-their-kind reports that examine the toll that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken on the frontline units of our active-Army and our National Guard.

VFA’s Wounded Warrior Outreach Program has chronicled the experiences of the units of the U.S. Army, on a state-by-state basis, that have been among our nation’s most heavily used in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. These reports aggregate information on each frontline unit’s number of deployments, intensity of combat, and dwell time.

These reports make clear that the Soldiers who have seen the most combat are the ones who are deployed repeatedly. Unfortunately, Department of Defense studies prove that with each deployment Soldiers are 60% more likely to develop severe post-combat mental health problems.

“When elected representatives talk about the ‘readiness’ of the military, they must also talk about the health of our troops,” said Bobby Muller, President of VFA. “We cannot consider our military ‘ready’ while we have troops on their third, fourth, and fifth tours. They are beginning to unravel.”

When General David Petraeus testifies on the situation in Iraq and requests a pause in withdrawing troops from Iraq, Congress must say that the current pace is unsustainable. Veterans for America calls on Congress to speak out against pausing the withdrawal of troops.

Click here for more information on our Wounded Warrior Outreach Program.

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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.