The problem of suicides continues to haunt Pentagon personnel officials. After 10 years of war, the suicide rate has climbed and remains stubbornly high despite numerous initiatives to bring it down. What’s behind the spike, and what — if anything — can be done to curb it? John Nagl, of the Center for a New American Security, and …
Troops
Dr. – and Lieutenant Colonel – Dave Cabrera, RIP
I read the names of every U.S. troop killed in action, and every once in awhile there’s a jolt that comes when I recognize one on the list. That’s the case among the four U.S. Army troops killed in that Taliban car bombing Saturday on one of Kabul’s main roads. Among those who perished were Staff Sgt. Christopher R. Newman of …
About Those Status-of-Forces Agreements
The U.S. military says it had no choice but to pull out of Iraq by year’s end because Baghdad would not give U.S. troops immunity from local prosecution. U.S. troops overseas almost always are covered by a so-called Status-of-Forces Agreement, which bars local prosecution in favor of giving jurisdiction to the U.S. military and its …
Soldier: The Doctors Will See You Now!
The public-health gurus of the American Public Health Association – all 13,000 of them – are meeting in Washington this week to figure out how we can all lead more healthy lives. It’s a noble pursuit, to be sure. Some of the studies and sessions investigate issues of interest to the nation’s troops. They may sound pretty …
“Losing the Battle”
The U.S. military likes to put a positive spin on even the grimmest news. In the summer of 2010, for example, both the Pentagon and the Army issued reports probing the rash of suicides in the ranks.
The Defense Department called its study
The Rest of the Story…
This story blipped on the radar screen Friday. Funny how stories that some folks would rather not see the light of day end up seeing the light of Saturday’s poorly-read papers. The Pentagon inspector general issued a report saying the Marines fumbled rape allegations made by Lance Corporal Maria Lauterbach in 2007 against Corporal …
A Scary New Way of Looking at Military Suicides – In the Mirror
Two Air Force researchers are suggesting it’s not the soldiers who kill themselves who should shoulder all the blame for their deaths. We – all of us, U.S. society writ large – may also be responsible.
“There appear to be systemic factors that play an important role in the rise in military suicides,” says George …
About Those Suspected Chinese-American Troops’ Suicides
The U.S. military is fervently hoping this trend doesn’t continue: just because U.S. troops in Afghanistan allegedly physically abused a pair of Chinese-American troops before each took his own life doesn’t mean they were picked on because of their ethnicity. We’ve reported recently on the suspected suicides of Marine Harry …
Semper F-Stop
If you’re a Marine with a coffee table, you’ll enjoy Always Faithful: U.S. Marines in World War II Combat. It’s a collection of 100 of the best photographs of the leathernecks island-hopping across the Pacific, printed in a large format with few words to clutter up the iconic images (no jarhead wisecracks, please). Author and …
Signature Wound
“Trust me, the first thing you do is check your [junk.]”
This is how a rehabbing Army soldier describes the immediate post-IED blast scene in Bob Drury’s new piece “Signature Wound,” available through Amazon’s Kindle Singles. Drury, a contributing editor and foreign correspondent for Men’s Health, explores the …
12 Americans Killed in Taliban Blast
A Taliban suicide bomber killed 12 Americans — four troops and eight contract workers — four Afghans, and a Canadian soldier, when he rammed his bomb-laden Toyota into an armored bus in Kabul Saturday. The brazen attack marked the deadliest strike against Americans in the Afghan capital since the U.S. invaded 10 years ago this …
Catch-22: Relevant Today?
Joseph Heller’s classic is 50 years old. Unfortunately, it still rings true in today’s military, according to this BBC article:
In Catch-22, for those lower down the food chain, there is nowhere to go to question methods. The same can be true today mainly because the army employs the same top-down reporting system that was in
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“Stanley Steamer” Calls It Quits
Clifford Stanley, the retired two-star Marine general who spent the past 20 months as the Pentagon’s personnel chief, is stepping down. He came in for a lot of criticism for an allegedly lousy management style. There are IG probes into alleged misspent money and personnel mismanagement — a bizarre topic for the guy in charge of …