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	<title>U.S. &#187; Ron Capps &#124; TIME.com</title>
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		<title>U.S. &#187; Ron Capps &#124; TIME.com</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com</link>
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		<title>One Concrete Thing</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2012/08/20/one-concrete-thing/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2012/08/20/one-concrete-thing/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 Aug 2012 11:00:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ron Capps</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Army]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pentagon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PTSD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Suicide]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Veterans]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nation.time.com/?p=81358</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Years now. Almost 11 years into the war in Afghanistan, and with Iraq mostly behind us, we’re still unable to get our hands and our minds around the military suicide rate. July marked the highest number of suicides among soldiers the army has faced. My colleagues Mark Thompson and Cam Ritchie have both written extensively about this, as have I. In fact, I felt like I had nothing left to say, so I’ve been quiet on the subject for months. For the record, I came close to becoming a statistic in 2006. At the absolute nadir of an episode of stark depression, and unable to get control of my PTSD, I drove alone into the desert with a 9mm pistol intent on killing myself. I was interrupted. For an average of 18 veterans a day, that doesn’t happen. For about 1.25 soldiers a day in July, it didn’t either. The military, and particularly the U.S. Army, has conducted studies, increased surveillance and monitoring of soldiers returning from combat, built resiliency training, encouraged a buddy system of overwatch for signs of depression, and more. Significant, but apparently ineffective. This approach seems rather like fighting suicides as a prairie fire: beating around the edges of the problem, trying to contain it all the while looking at the sky hoping for rain. That rain, the eventual end of the war, I believe will have little effect on the problem. It will simply shift the balance of suicides from active duty soldiers to veterans. I’ll leave the medical commentary to others, but as a survivor I’ll say this: a big part of the problem is the crushing systemic and individual stigma attached to asking for help for psychological health issues. Major General Dana Pittard wrote on his blog a few months ago “I am personally fed up with Soldiers who are choosing to take their own lives so that others can clean up their mess. Be an adult, act like an adult, and deal with your real-life problems like the rest of us.” I<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=81358&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Military Mental Health</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/military-mental-health-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timemilitary.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/screen-shot-2012-08-19-at-2-19-08-pm.png?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">roncapps</media:title>
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		<title>Dark Knight Shooter Not A Veteran</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2012/07/23/dark-knight-shooter-not-a-veteran-2/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2012/07/23/dark-knight-shooter-not-a-veteran-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 23 Jul 2012 12:17:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ron Capps</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Homeland Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military Mental Health]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battleland.blogs.time.com/?p=78881</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have to admit that when I saw the news about the Aurora, Colo., shootings Friday morning, my first reaction wasn’t appropriate. My very first instincts should have been shock and sympathy towards the victims and their families. But they weren’t. My first thought was, “I hope the shooter wasn’t a veteran.” According to the Pentagon, he was not. In the wake of the September 11th attacks on America, any violent attack immediately brought on a question of any possible link to international terrorism. No longer. I fear we are entering a period where any gun attack will immediately raise the question of whether or not the shooter was a returned veteran and a jump to the “psychotic returned combat veteran” meme so prevalent in the wake of the Bales killings in Afghanistan and other tragedies. Sadly, my own reaction to this mass murder, and that of so many others on social media—worrying that the shooter was a veteran—may bear this out. I should add here, that my thoughts did quickly turn to the victims and their families. Notwithstanding the question of why any responsible parent would have a six-year old or a four-month old out at a midnight movie, no one deserves to be slain by a nutjob who was legally allowed to purchase an arsenal of assault rifle, a shotgun, a handgun, and gas cannisters.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=78881&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Veterans</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/veterans-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timemilitary.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/149041136.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">Colorado Community Mourns In Aftermath Of Deadly Movie Theater Shooting</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">roncapps</media:title>
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		<title>&#8220;Listen Up, General Pittard.&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2012/05/22/listen-up-general-pittard/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2012/05/22/listen-up-general-pittard/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 May 2012 20:16:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ron Capps</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PTSD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Veterans]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battleland.blogs.time.com/?p=74694</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I want to make a couple quick comments on the furor over Major General Dana Pittard&#8217;s blog post that soldiers who kill themselves are being selfish, and his exhortation that those thinking of suicide should just buck up and face their problems like an adult. &#8220;Suicide is an absolutely selfish act,” he wrote to his official blog recently (an entry since deleted). “I am personally fed up with soldiers who are choosing to take their own lives so that others can clean up their mess.&#8221; First, I know Dana Pittard. He&#8217;s now the commanding general of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas. I served as a platoon leader in the cavalry troop he commanded in 1988 and I worked in his brigade&#8217;s AOR in Iraq in 2004. This is probably the first dumb thing he&#8217;s said or done in his career. Dana can be a little stiff, but he&#8217;s an experienced combat leader who cares about individual soldiers and their families as much as he does the Army itself. Which is to say an enormous amount. Second, I hope he and other military leaders will learn from this gaffe and begin to listen to PTSD survivors, especially those of us who have been suicidal, about what this injury does to us and about what it feels like. It isn&#8217;t something you can just get over like a high school break-up. It is debilitating and insidious, working at every level of your consciousness; it changes the size of the brain and its function. Speaking up, asking for help, demands more moral courage than many brave men and women can muster. This is principally because of a generalized sense throughout the Army that PTSD is a weakness rather than an injury or a wound. Comments like those Pittard made&#8211;I can only presume out of frustration rather than from an informed, thoughtful position&#8211;deepen this ignorance and weaken the resolve of soldiers who might need help. Listen up, General.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=74694&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://nation.time.com/2012/05/22/listen-up-general-pittard/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Suicide</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/suicide-2/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/2a111f349e6dcad7dcc14749a934de1a?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs0.wp.com%2Fi%2Fmu.gif&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">roncapps</media:title>
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		<title>Not (Just) Another Reading List</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2012/05/14/not-just-another-reading-list/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2012/05/14/not-just-another-reading-list/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 14 May 2012 10:16:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ron Capps</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[People]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[War Story]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battleland.blogs.time.com/?p=73780</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My Battleland colleague Nate Rawlings has done excellent work at keeping us all aware of trends in official Army reading lists. Like many veterans, I suppose, I have a shelf of books I own solely because some previous commander put it on his mandatory reading list. These lists are handed down as part of the boilerplate leadership model every commander (in the Army at least) learns early on. Not that they aren’t important, but they are ubiquitous. What strikes me about many of these lists is that they lack a literary component. Clearly they’re not designed to help rising leaders hone their ability to discern post-modernist themes in the American novel. But, I thought it might be interesting to put together a list of literary works that soldiers and others would find helpful or at least interesting and worthwhile. I teach writing in a number of venues both as an academic exercise and as therapy, and I use these works in my seminars and workshops. I won’t make this a top-ten list, but rather just a list of a couple handfuls of books and why I think they’re worth including on soldiers’ reading lists. The Iliad. Simply put, the best book about the human element of war I know. In the ninth year of the Trojan War, Achilles decides to sit out a while after King Agamemnon dishonors him. Things go poorly for the Greeks. Achilles’s best friend Patroclus is killed and Achilles returns to the fray in a berserk state. Things go poorly for the Trojans—Hector particularly. In between we learn about the warrior’s identity, special operations, how family relations change in nine years of war, the political level of war, and so much more. Additional reading: Christopher Logue&#8217;s interpretations of The Iliad and Jonathan Shay’s Achilles in Vietnam. For Esme&#8211;With Love and Squalor. J.D. Salinger’s short story about an Army sergeant’s evolution from a charming, erudite writer-draftee to a shaky, chain smoking, quick-to-anger, combat veteran is likely a description of Salinger’s own experience. Like Salinger’s other works, it<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=73780&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Military History</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/military-history/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">roncapps</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Bookshelf</media:title>
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		<title>Update: The 7,000 Mile Sniper Shot.</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2012/05/10/update-the-7000-mile-sniper-shot/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2012/05/10/update-the-7000-mile-sniper-shot/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 10 May 2012 11:17:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ron Capps</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Suicide]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Veterans]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battleland.blogs.time.com/?p=73694</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I wrote a few weeks ago about Marine Major Jeff Hackett, who killed himself in the aftermath of a collapse following his distinguished 26-year career. Major Hackett&#8217;s widow, Danielle was initially denied payment of Jeff&#8217;s $400,000 life insurance policy because when times got tough economically for Jeff, he missed a few payments. Recently, the VA reversed its initial decision and provided Mrs. Hackett with the benefit. Jeff&#8217;s suicide, I said before, was clearly the result of his combat service. He shot himself in a parking lot in Wyoming, but it might as well have been a 7,000 sniper shot. The shot that killed Jeff depleted our force by one good Marine. What more could the enemy want? It&#8217;s good to know that the VA did the right thing.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=73694&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://nation.time.com/2012/05/10/update-the-7000-mile-sniper-shot/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Veterans</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/veterans-2/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">roncapps</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">Marine-Corps-Insignia</media:title>
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		<title>PTSD: Weakness or Wound?</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2012/05/08/ptsd-weakness-or-wound/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2012/05/08/ptsd-weakness-or-wound/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 08 May 2012 11:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ron Capps</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PTSD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Veterans]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battleland.blogs.time.com/?p=73490</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=73490&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://nation.time.com/2012/05/08/ptsd-weakness-or-wound/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Military Mental Health</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/military-mental-health-2/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">roncapps</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">what is ptsd</media:title>
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		<title>Afghan Massacre: Rush To Judgment</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2012/03/14/afghan-massacre-rush-to-judgment/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2012/03/14/afghan-massacre-rush-to-judgment/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:11:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ron Capps</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Afghanistan]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Army]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pentagon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PTSD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Traumatic Brain Injury]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troops]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Veterans]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battleland.blogs.time.com/?p=68984</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For the past few days, Washington’s, America’s, probably much of the world’s airways have been filled with commentary about the horrific killings in Afghanistan allegedly committed by an American soldier. Radio, TV and the blogosphere have been inundated with reports, predictions, and speculation—why he did it, what it means for the American war effort in Afghanistan and what it means for the future of the military. The New York Daily News featured the headline “Sergeant Psycho.” Other, less inflammatory and ridiculous story headers have appeared across the spectrum of platforms, prompting a backlash of stories denouncing the press stereotype of returning veterans as ticking time bombs of psychoses. No sane person would commit such an act. So it seems safe to assume that there is some sort of mental health issue—Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or something considerably worse—at play. But the rush to judgment by the pontificating classes has been disturbing. I don’t think anyone could catch every panel of experts pulled together to opine on this subject, but I’ve made a point to watch and listen to many of them. And one thing in particular struck me about the ones I’ve watched and listened to: none of them included a soldier who has come through the war with PTSD. I’ve heard lots of policy experts, a couple retired general officers and a few medical professionals. But not a single returned combat veteran who has survived PTSD. So, as a combat veteran who has survived PTSD and now takes part in research and treatment for wounded warriors with PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI), I’d like to weigh in. To the editors and entire staff of the New York Daily News: Screw You. Go to war, come home, go to war again. Keep this up for 10 years. Then see how funny you think that headline is. You have no standing to make this judgment. None. To our elected officials and the people who elected them: this is what you get when you refuse to do what is necessary to create<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=68984&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Military Mental Health</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/military-mental-health-2/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">roncapps</media:title>
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		<title>RIP: Magnificent Valor</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2012/03/06/rip-magnificent-valor/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2012/03/06/rip-magnificent-valor/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:20:42 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ron Capps</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Army]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military History]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[People]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battleland.blogs.time.com/?p=68468</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In the spring of 1944, the focus of the American army in Europe was the fighting in Italy. Van Barfoot was a sergeant in the 157th Infantry, part of the 45th Division. The 25 men in his platoon, like the other 150,000 Americans on the beachhead, had been bombed and shelled regularly by German aircraft and artillery since they arrived at Anzio in February. Their world was compact. Just in front of Barfoot&#8217;s position was a wheat field; in the middle of the field was a cemetery whose walls had been destroyed by shelling. A mile away was the Campoleone-Cisterna railroad and the town of Carano. Just behind them was a small pine forest, the Padigliano Woods, and beyond that the ocean. There was only one way to go: through the Germans. &#8220;We knew we would have to break ourselves out of there,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Because the invasion force for D-Day was sitting in England and no one was coming behind us.&#8221; The order to move came on May 22nd. A naval bombardment preceding the assault started at 5:45. A light rain was falling at 6:30 when Barfoot moved his platoon out of their position through the irrigation ditches towards the German lines. The platoon’s radio was damaged by machine gun fire, so Barfoot couldn’t call to coordinate his movements or ask for artillery support. He tried to send a runner to contact the company commander but the runner was wounded before he could leave their position. They had lost contact with the unit on their flank. Even amid the hundreds of thousands of German, British and American troops fighting and dying on that spring morning in Italy, Barfoot and his unit were isolated, alone. Barfoot left a squad in position where they could see the Germans and continued alone up the ditch towards the German machine guns. The weeks of training and reconnaissance paid off, Barfoot had made it through the irrigation canals and was just in front of the German positions. But the rest of his platoon was pinned down<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=68468&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Army</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/army-2/</primary_category_link>
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			<media:title type="html">roncapps</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">150px-Van_T._Barfoot</media:title>
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		<title>When is it War?</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2012/02/21/when-is-it-war/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2012/02/21/when-is-it-war/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:22:26 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ron Capps</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military Benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military Mental Health]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[National Security]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pentagon]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PTSD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Troops]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battleland.blogs.time.com/?p=66953</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[If you were in Iraq in 2008, just after the wave of troops for the troop surge had crested with 160,000 or so American troops in country, you might have had a pretty good reason to think you were involved in a war. Three-hundred-and- fourteen American service members died in Iraq that year. They died in a war. Jerico McCoy was there. He came home alive but is now arguing that America wasn’t at war in Iraq in 2008. McCoy believes that because Iraq had a sovereign government in 2008 that no state of war could have existed between that country and the United States. McCoy’s argument is one for the lawyers, and I suspect there will be a boatload of lawyers arguing this one. Yep, lots of lawyers with really nice suits and shiny shoes will be arguing this one because McCoy is suing an insurance company. McCoy&#8217;s 2008 deployment was a second tour in Iraq. He was there in 2003 as well. But at home, after his second tour, he claims he developed Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. He had health insurance through his employer, Bank of America. But the insurance company refused to pay benefits because of the little clause that is in almost every civilian insurance health policy: that the insurer doesn’t cover injuries that occur from acts of war. Go ahead, take a minute to find your policy and read it. I’ll be here when you get back. See, I told you so. Now, the real question isn’t whether America was at war in Iraq in 2008. It’s whether Mr. McCoy’s insurance company should cover his PTSD claims or not. It seems pretty clear to me that we were at war in Iraq in 2008. It also seems pretty clear to me that McCoy’s insurance company made it perfectly clear on his policy that this is just the sort of thing it would not cover. But these are questions for the lawyers. I sat on a panel discussion a while ago at a Carter Center symposium Rosalyn Carter<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=66953&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Veterans</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/veterans-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timemilitary.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/81299607.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">A Month in Sadr City</media:title>
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			<media:title type="html">roncapps</media:title>
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		<title>A 7,000-Mile Sniper Shot</title>
		<link>http://nation.time.com/2012/02/14/a-7000-mile-sniper-shot/</link>
		<comments>http://nation.time.com/2012/02/14/a-7000-mile-sniper-shot/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:40:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Ron Capps</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Battleland]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Military Benefits]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PTSD]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Suicide]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://battleland.blogs.time.com/?p=66393</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Jeff Hackett died in the war. He was a career Marine, a mustang who rose through the enlisted ranks to become a gunnery sergeant, then through the officer ranks to become a major. In Iraq, Jeff led a highly specialized unit of Marines searching and destroying improvised explosive devices (IEDs) before they could kill other Marines. It was tough, dangerous work. Eight of his Marines died on the mission. When he came home from Iraq, Jeff Hackett wasn’t right. His behavior was erratic, especially to friends who had known him for years. He left the service and drifted from job to job, when he could find work. Eventually, he was doing manual labor in Wyoming. He felt like a failure, a joke. He killed himself. And then, if you can believe it, things got even worse. Jeff wasn&#8217;t able to keep up the payments on his Veterans Group Life Insurance (VGLI) policy after he retired. He paid in full each month of the 26 years he served in the Marine Corps. But afterwards, because he missed a few payments when he was struggling, the insurance company refused to pay off. Hackett was only one of an average of 18 veterans who killed themselves that day almost two years ago. He died in a parking lot in Cheyenne, Wyoming. But in my book, his suicide might as well have been a 7,000-mile sniper shot. Jeff Hackett died in the war. And the damned insurance company ought to pay what it owes his family. Read more about Jeff Hackett and the efforts to take care of his family in this Washington Post article by Greg Jaffe.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=nation.time.com&#038;blog=20157722&#038;post=66393&#038;subd=timemilitary&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
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	<primary_category>Veterans</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://nation.time.com/category/veterans-2/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timemilitary.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/800px-us-marines-iraq.jpg?w=240</featured_image>
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			<media:title type="html">800px-US-Marines-Iraq</media:title>
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