On Veterans Day, we're taking your messages to send to people serving overseas. What's the one thing you want to say to active duty soldiers and sailors?
On Wednesday, President Obama will present the Medal of Honor to the parents of Staff Sergeant Robbie Miller, killed in action in Afghanistan at the age of 24. Miller is credited with saving the lives of seven American soldiers and fifteen Afghan troops as he charged toward an enemy position, drawing fire away from his comrades.
Miller is only the third person to receive the Medal of Honor for valor in Afghanistan, and many wonder why that number is so low.
The military ads we see on television often claim that enlisted men and women have the opportunity to gain valuable job skills while serving our country. Whether the dream is to be an engineer or a journalist, the promise is that the military can help that dream to come true. But are these promises real? And what do real veterans face when trying to find work?
The combat mission in Iraq officially ends today, but the question about what we've accomplished there will remain for years. We hear from veterans of the war, and ask them what they felt they personally accomplished there.
Operation Iraqi Freedom will draw to a close on September 1st, 2010. As American forces transition from combat operations into the stability operations of Operation New Dawn, we're thinking about the troops who will be coming home.
Just this month, 13,000 troops will return home to the U.S. That's the equivalent of one 747 every day. By the end of next year, all 50,000 remaining troops will come home.
Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan come from hill towns and farm country all across America – and when they return home, they bring their combat injuries with them. Traumatic brain injuries and missing limbs require sophisticated and constant treatment, and the Department of Veterans Affairs has a duty to treat them. But when roads are blocked by snow, or the nearest VA facility is hours away, giving veterans the care they’ve been promised can be a challenge.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is set to issue new rules, as early as Monday, which should simplify the way veterans receive compensation for post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is one of the most common psychological injuries afflicting veterans today and creating new regulations for treatment is an attempt to break some of the barriers to treatment.
A St. Louis veterans hospital may have infected thousands of its patients with HIV and hepatitis. The Department of Veterans Affairs mailed letters out to 1,812 veterans, warning them they may potentially be infected, because dental equipment "may not have been cleaned correctly" at the clinic at the John Cochran hospital.
A team of British ex-servicemen who have all lost limbs in the line of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, have announced a plan to become the first amputees to walk to the North Pole.
It's been seven years since the U.S.-led "coalition of the willing" invaded Iraq. We talk with two soldiers who fought in Iraq to find out what has changed on the ground since the war began.
More women than ever are returning home from military duty, but many Veteran Affairs centers don’t have adequate services for womens' health. We talk this morning with Ann Brown, director of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg, West Virginia, and retired Marine Capt. Anu Bhagwati, executive director of the Service Women's Action Network, about what VA facilities need to do to better accommodate female needs.
President Obama will make a major announcement tonight from West Point Military Academy, outlining his plans to raise troop levels in Afghanistan. The New York Times reports the president has already issued orders to send thousands of additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, raising the number of U.S. forces there to around 100,000. Tonight's speech is expected to include a timeline for U.S. involvement in the region and give the nation some idea of how he plans to pay for the war. The Takeaway talks to three veterans of the war in Afghanistan and asks what they want to hear from the Commander in Chief.
Maj. Adrianne Dicker Kadzinski is in the Army reserve. She served in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2003, and she currently sits on the advisory board of the Rebuilding Afghanistan Foundation, which focuses on education there. Ret. Sgt. Steve Husong served in Afghanistan in 2002 and 2003. He's the host and producer of a television program that is currently in the works called "Redeployed." And National Guard Spec. Marco Reininger, who served in Afghanistan in 2008, is a spokesman for the group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
Maj. Kadzinski says the U.S. owes Afghanistan a substantial, long-term presence focusing on rebuilding economic and social structures. Ret. Sgt. Husong wants President Obama to trust the generals who advise him, relying on their military experience to make up for his lack. And Spec. Reininger says whatever the President's decision, the country must be prepared to take care of returning veterans.
Mark Moffa shaves a cast in the Prosthetics lab of the VA Medical Center in New York.
Mark Moffa is lovingly caressing the leg of a Vietnam vet. His fingers linger on a little imperfection, so he gently shaves it smooth. It’s okay; you haven’t accidentally stumbled upon an R rated war blog! Mark makes and fits prosthetic limbs, and the leg he is tenderly touching is made out of plaster of Paris. (...click through to continue reading and hear our interview with Department Chief John Loosen)
President Obama stops in Phoenix today to address the annual convention for Veterans of Foreign Wars. Washington Examiner reporter Julie Mason gives us a preview of what they can expect to hear from the president. The Takeaway also speaks with Kristen Rouse, 1st Lieutenant in the Army National Guard and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, along with Bruce Smith, who served in Vietnam as a Naval Petty Officer.
"I think his most important job is to address that current policy in Afghanistan, because I think veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars as well as past veterans really need to know: what are we doing and why are service members being asked to put their lives at stake, and why are their families being asked to sacrifice what they are for this Afghanistan policy. It's an important selling point for him to very clearly articulate that, also to say the name of Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, who is still being held prisoner by the Taliban, and he needs to say that name and and let people know, let America know, that that soldier is not forgotten."
—Kristen Rouse, 1st Lieutenant in the Army National Guard and a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, on what she thinks Obama needs to say in his address to the VFW this afternoon
While many people think the GI Bill pays for college, for a lot of vets, the monthly payment wasn't enough to cover tuition. This weekend, the post-9/11 GI Bill was rolled out across the country. For vets returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, the bill will pay 100 percent of the tuition at a state college (plus living expenses and even books). This bill is expected to help in recruiting and retaining troops, as well as transform the lives of a new generation of veterans. The Takeaway talks to Lance Zaal, a sergeant who served two tours in Iraq and just graduated from the College of William and Mary. And for a historical perspective on the GI Bill we are joined by Glenn Altschuler, a professor of American studies at Cornell University and author of The GI Bill: The New Deal for Veterans (Pivotal Moments in American History)
For more on the GI Bill, head to newGIbill.org to calculate your benefits and watch this interview with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America's counsel below:
In the past, athletes involved in high-impact sports such as boxing or football would refer to the periods their brains went dim as "punch drunk." They'd find themselves thinking slowly, forgetting directions, suffering headaches. Now researchers think the symptoms may be indicative of a greater problem: the rare disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Athletes may not be the only victims— soldiers are also vulnerable. Joining The Takeaway with more is Chris Nowinski, director of the Sports Legacy Institute, a Boston-based nonprofit that has partnered with Boston University to study the long term affects of brain injuries like concussions on athletes and soldiers.
Read more about the repercussions of brain injuries in today's New York Times article, A Chance for Clues to Brain Injury in Combat Blasts.
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