It’s rampant among returning vets—and now their spouses and kids are starting to show the same symptoms.
Researchers posit that traumatic brain injury can make the brain more vulnerable to PTSD, or that it can exacerbate its symptoms of exhaustion, agitation, confusion, headaches.
Read more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/01/ptsd-epidemic-military-vets-families?page=2
Eight military couples win same-sex benefits retroactive to 2011
A federal judge in Massachusetts has ruled that eight same-sex military couples are eligible to apply for retroactive benefits back to the dates in 2011 when they tried to register their spouses in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System.
Army explores predicting suicides as a way to prevent them
Even as thousands of U.S. troops were dying in Iraq and Afghanistan during the 12 years of war following 9/11, about 3,000 perished by their own hand, nearly the same as the number of people lost on the day of those terrorist attacks.
Indeed, suicide is a perennial stain on the military that’s growing worse each year, a trajectory baffling to military leaders and devastating to the thousands of shattered families left behind.
Female combat vets report more assaults
The study found that 2.1 percent of the military women surveyed reported in an anonymous survey that they experienced some form of sexual assault during the prior three-year period. Yet that rate was almost twice as high, 4 percent, among women who said they had deployed and experienced combat, the study found.
Read more: http://www.armytimes.com/article/20131006/NEWS05/310060009/Female-combat-vets-report-more-assaults
Suspect jailed after allegedly strangling one man to death, stabbing another
RAISIN TWP. — A 31-year-old soldier on leave from the U.S. Army is lodged at the Lenawee County Jail after he allegedly strangled a man to death and stabbed another in the shoulder Saturday morning at 2985 Gady Road, Lot 63, in Raisin Township, according to the Michigan State Police. The deceased victim is a 20-year-old man from Adrian. The second victim is an 18-year-old man from Adrian who was treated for lacerations and released.
Read more: http://www.lenconnect.com/article/20131005/NEWS/131009586
Police: Soldier held after 1 killed, 2nd stabbed
RAISIN TOWNSHIP, MICH. — Michigan State Police say a 31-year-old soldier on leave from the U.S. Army is jailed after a man was strangled to death and another stabbed in the shoulder.
Oregon guardsman guilty of raping 11-year-old girl
BEND, ORE. — An Oregon National Guard soldier from Bend has been convicted of raping his fellow guardsman’s 11-year-old daughter.
The Bend Bulletin reports that 35-year-old Florentino Allen Valdez hung his head after Judge Stephen Forte returned the guilty verdict Wednesday, and cried as he left the courtroom.
Former Carson soldier pleads guilty in infant stepson’s death
Zachary Ryan Doggett pleaded guilty to fatal child abuse on Wednesday under a plea agreement with prosecutors. The Gazette reported that Doggett’s voice cracked as he told the judge the decision to plead guilty was “mine and mine alone.”
Vets, widows say VA passes out pain meds too readily
The Iraq war veteran, who first hurt his back during search and recovery operations at the Pentagon on 9/11, became addicted to the powerful painkillers, living life in a fog and counting the minutes until his next dose, he said. “I was taking enough pills daily to treat four terminally ill cancer patients,” Minyard testified before Congress on Thursday.
Fort Hood trial cost government about $5 million
FORT WORTH, TEXAS — The U.S. government spent nearly $5 million to court-martial and convict an Army psychiatrist in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage, according to records reviewed by a North Texas television station.
The biggest pre-trial expense in Maj. Nidal Hasan’s trial was more than $1 million for transportation for witnesses, jurors and attorneys, according to Army records obtained by KXAS-TV of Fort Worth and Dallas. About $90,000 was spent to house the witnesses.
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 