BattlelandPTSD
I want to add to the debate on the hot issue at the American Psychiatric Association this week. Retired Army general and vice chief of staff Peter Chiarelli made a strong case for re-naming post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Chiarelli advocates calling it post-traumatic stress injury. The Canadians use the term “operational …
BattlelandMilitary
What better way to spend some time off than sharing a fascinating read from Small Wars Journal with Battleland readers (who are doing just fine, thank you very much, under Army vet and Time writer Nate Rawlings’ steady hand). Over at SWJ, Mehar Omar Khan of Pakistan writes of the way words are bandied about in the military profession, …
BattlelandMilitary Mental Health
I am encouraged recently to see that community-based, civilian clinicians want to be prepared to meet the mental health needs of returning veterans and their families. One great example is the extraordinary response to a free …
BattlelandVeterans
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’s widow, Danielle was initially denied payment of Jeff’s $400,000 life insurance policy because when times got tough economically for Jeff, he missed a few payments. …
BattlelandMilitary Women
The Navy Uniform Board is messing around with uniforms again…this time to make the uniforms “gender blind.” In other words, the women will now be wearing men’s uniforms and covers. Won’t that be swell? This is in response to Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus’ commitment to service where opportunities are gender blind, according …
BattlelandVeterans
Two weeks after the Department of Veterans Affairs’ inspector general issued report eviscerating the agency for its handling of mental-health care, VA Secretary Eric Shinseki appeared before the House Committee on Veterans …
BattlelandVeterans
Jobless vets – those who have recently waged America’s wars – are a national disgrace. The dignity and purpose that accompanies work is one of the best salves a veteran can apply to a mind rattled by combat. But the numbers can be like mercury. On Sunday, Mike Mullen, the retired admiral and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, …
BattlelandAfghanistan
It’s been nearly two months since the Kandahar massacre – some time and distance, but not much. Some things are clearer, some things still aren’t. We don’t know why Staff Sergeant Robert Bales did what he did. We do know the American public’s confidence in the war effort plunged post-Kandahar. We don’t know if that …
BattlelandNavy
The Navy’s personnel chief, after a survey of nearly 400 women in the sea service, says there’s room for improvement in the uniforms they wear.
“As a result of fleet feedback received from female sailors during Navy leadership …
BattlelandVeterans
For those of you keeping score at home, the blunt decision by a federal appeals court a year ago came as a shocker:
We willingly acknowledge that, in theory, the political branches of our government are better positioned than are the courts to design the procedures necessary to save veterans’ lives and to fulfill our country’s
…
