Military
Classified documents provide window into realities of Afghanistan war
“A six-year archive of classified military documents made public on Sunday offers an unvarnished, ground-level picture of the war in Afghanistan that is in many respects more grim than the official portrayal,” reports The New York Times. The documents were released online by WikiLeaks.org, but The New York Times, the British newspaper The Guardian and…
Read MoreCIA drones target unnamed suspects in Pakistan
According to counter-terrorism officials, the “CIA received secret permission to attack a wider range of targets, including suspected militants whose names are not known, as part of a dramatic expansion of its campaign of drone strikes in Pakistan’s border region,” reports David S. Cloud of the Los Angeles Times. A vast majority of the over…
Read MoreArmy trauma units failing to meet needs of soldiers
James Dao and Dan Frosch, of The New York Times, report on Warrior Transition Units that were created in the wake of the Walter Reed scandal. Meant as safe havens for soldiers as they recuperated from injuries and transitioned back into active duty or civilian life, the units “are far from being restful sanctuaries. For many…
Read MorePersonality disorder used to discharge soldiers, strip them of benefits
A report by Joshua Kors in The Nation explores the Army’s fraudulent use of personality disorder diagnoses to discharge soldiers, thus stripping them of their disability benefits and long term medical care. The article details the case of Chuck Luther who suffered a concussion during a mortar attack in May 2007. After reporting his symptoms,…
Read MorePentagon mentor system to be overhauled
Tom Vanden Brook and Ken Dilanian of USA Today? report that Defense Secretary Robert Gates “ordered an overhaul of the Pentagon’s use of retired senior officers to advise the military, limiting the pay of “senior mentors” and requiring them to disclose their business ties to defense contractors.” This move is in response to a USA…
Read MoreDeadly military aviation accidents on the rise
“U.S. soldiers have been twice as likely to die from aviation accidents as they were from ground mishaps or incidents over the past two and a half decades, according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of U.S. Army data.” An increased reliance on aviation has contributed to the increase in these deadly air accidents. There have…
Read MoreEx-residents slow to be notified of toxic water on Marine base
Despite a 2007 law requiring the Marine Corps to notify former residents of Camp Lejeune, N.C. that they may have been exposed to contaminated water between 1957 and 1987, many have never been notified while others are just now finding out, according to a report by Barbara Barrett of McClatchy Newspapers. “The Marines have registered…
Read MoreSoldiers buried as “unknown” due to careless record keeping
Mark Benjamin of Salon.com reports of continuing problems at Arlington National Cemetery. Burial mix-ups include cremated remains being dumped in a landfill before being recovered and buried as an unknown soldier. Careless record keeping has contributed to others being buried as unknown soldiers. “In some cases cemetery officials lost track of the identity of remains during burial…
Read MoreArmy bypasses ethics code to hire senior mentors
Ken Dilanian, Tom Vanden Brook and Ray Locker of USA Today report that the Army circumvented its own ethics code to hire two former generals as contractors before the mandated yearlong “cooling off” period. The Army wanted to hire former generals John Vines and Dan McNeill as “senior mentors,” but the mentorship program is run…
Read MoreAgent Orange series
A series by The Chicago Tribune traces the lingering impact of the use of Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. The evidence of exposure can still be seen in the many who suffer serious health issues, and birth defects have carried the legacy forth into a second generation. With assistance from the Fund for Investigative…
Read More