In The News

Coalition and Afghan forces encountered only sporadic resistance Sunday as they pressed further into the insurgent stronghold of Marjah in Afghanistan's strategic southern region. More >

A leading Sunni politician said Sunday that he may call on his supporters to boycott next month's national elections in Iraq. More >

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has ordered many Army and Air Force Exchange Service facilities closed as a way to focus on the war and to provide space for the U.S. troop buildup. More >

The success of a planned major U.S.-Afghan offensive in the south depends on how quickly troops and civilian development workers can get public services up and running once the Taliban have been driven away, the top U.S. and NATO commander said Sunday. More >

American military helicopters landed on Tuesday at Haiti’s wrecked National Palace, and troops began rolling through the capital’s battered streets, signs of the growing international relief operation here. More >

For many veterans, the desire to serve their country doesn't end when they come home. More >

Quickly giving morphine to wounded troops cuts in half the chance they will develop post-traumatic stress disorder. More >

Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey said Jan. 14 that the service is in the final stages of establishing a chief management officer as part of a plan to strengthen the service's business structure. More >

Wives of soldiers sent to war suffered significantly higher rates of mental health issues than those whose husbands stayed home, according to the largest study ever done on the emotional impact of war on Army wives. More >

Rank doesn’t matter, nor does it count if your father was a general or a sergeant major: Anyone who reports to his or her unit on Day One in poor physical condition has lost the respect of fellow soldiers.

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In and out of uniform, those who have served the nation in the military are killing themselves at rates never seen before. More >

The wife of the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had a message Wednesday for those trying to prevent military suicides: Don't forget the spouses. More >

When retired Army Maj. Ed Pulido was medically evacuated from Iraq in August 2004, he knew tough challenges were ahead, as he’d have to learn to live without his left leg. More >

When Staff Sgt. Megan Krause returned home from a deployment in Iraq in 2006, she thought the scariest moments of her life were over. More >

My friend Don served 19 years active duty in the Marine Corps before he was injured by a rocket-propelled grenade in Afghanistan in 2003. More >

Home from war and out of the military, young male veterans appear to be committing suicide at a higher rate. More >

Training and Doctrine Command released its vision of future warfare in December, and at times it reads like a script by Gene Roddenberry, creator of “Star Trek.” More >

Soldiers and their families are seeking more help from the American Red Cross to make emergency communications. More >

MADISON – Governor Jim Doyle is urging state employers to capitalize on the unique skills and talents of returning veterans and help them transition quickly to civilian employment. More >

WASHINGTON - Some 200 wounded active duty members and military veterans will compete in the inaugural Warrior Games May 10-14 in Colorado Springs, Colo., Defense Department officials announced Thursday. More >

The Alexandria Veterans Affairs (VA) clinic will offer H1N1 vaccine and seasonal flu shots at no charge to veterans who receive their health care through the VA. More >

Veterans eligible for the post 9-11 GI Bill are finding new ways to use it this semester. More >

Jason Johnston is the first local soldier to die in either Afghanistan or Iraq, but many others are paying a price for their service. The Orleans County Veterans Service Agency has filed 100 disability claims for veterans from the two wars, and about 75 percent of the claims are related to post traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. More >

Under a new program in La Crosse County, Wisc., any veteran involved in an incident with local law enforcement will be assigned a mentor who also is a veteran, and the state's top judge believes the program has national implications. More >

A South Carolina lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that would make it a felony to threaten violence against military members or their families because they are serving their country.

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With the national unemployment rate for veterans with severe disabilities at 85 percent, a unique Long Beach program aims to make a difference. More >

No one can tell Brig. Gen. Rhonda Cornum that she doesn’t know what combat trauma’s like.

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Americans should prepare to accept hundreds of U.S. casualties each month in Afghanistan during spring offensives with enemy forces.

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GRAFENWÖHR, Germany – The Army is preparing to open several multimillion-dollar facilities to treat soldiers for combat stress and traumatic brain injury (TBI) at Grafenwöhr and Vilseck. More >

Dave Sharpe was troubled by thoughts he could not share after he returned from a tour in Iraq. "I found myself waking up in the middle of the night, punching holes in walls, kicking and beating the refrigerator door," he said. More >

When Army Spc. Matt Ping returned to the States after 16 months isolated in the mountains of northeast Afghanistan, he felt cut off from his new surroundings.

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Michelle Ford had newborn twins and a husband severely wounded in Afghanistan when she got the offer to move into a group home on the campus of Walter Reed Army Medical Center. More >

A wide-ranging Department of Defense survey revealed the rate of servicemembers attempting suicide has doubled in recent years, coinciding with an increase in those reporting symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and those abusing prescription drugs. More >

It's a scene that's played out in airports across the country numerous times in the past eight years: Families and servicemembers clinging to each other, either sad to leave or happy and vowing to never let go again. More >

Sgt. Kristopher Giuranna admits he tries to avoid the families of friends who didn't make it out of Iraq with him. Short condolences at their memorial services are about all he can manage. More >

The top U.S. military officer said Tuesday that he’s confident that most of the 30,000 additional troops that are being sent to Afghanistan will be there by August. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters traveling with him in Afghanistan that the first 16,000 troops who already have orders will be in on schedule. More >

Reaching a hundred of anything is usually considered a milestone—whether its years of age or points in a basketball game. USA Cares has just reached such a milestone with the one-hundredth veteran assisted through our Warrior Treatment Today program. More >

Nobody wants to buy them a beer.

Even near military bases, female veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan aren’t often offered a drink on the house as a welcome home.

More than 230,000 American women have fought in those recent wars and at least 120 have died doing so, yet the public still doesn’t completely understand their contributions on the modern battlefield.

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For Karen and Morrill Worcester, it's a campaign that blossomed out of a personal family tradition. But for the families of the fallen, it's a holiday tribute to remember the sacrifice of those who have given their lives in the armed services.

On Saturday, volunteers flooded the grounds at Arlington National Cemetery to take part in the annual wreath-laying ceremony sponsored by Wreaths Across America, a nonprofit organization born out of the Arlington Wreaths Project. More >

Conferees of the Senate and House of Representatives met on Tuesday, Dec. 8, to approve the Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations conference report. At the Conference, five additional appropriations bills were added to the bill, including the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies bill. The resulting FY 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act totals $446.8 billion in discretionary budget authority. More >

President Barack Obama said Thursday that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, set to start in 19 months, will be gradual, and U.S. aid to that nation will last for years."We're not going to see some sharp cliff, some precipitous drawdown," Obama told reporters in Oslo, where he traveled to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. More >

A bare majority of Americans support President Obama’s plan to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, but many are skeptical that the United States can count on Afghanistan as a partner in the fight or that the escalation would reduce the chances of a domestic terrorist attack, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. More >

Two new studies seem to provide more evidence that post-traumatic stress disorder is a chemical change in the brain caused by trauma — and that it might be possible to diagnose, treat and predict susceptibility to it based on brain scans or blood tests. More >

The head of U.S. military forces in Afghanistan downplayed the president’s July 2011 goal to begin withdrawing troops and said he wouldn’t rule out delaying that timeline or even adding more troops to the new 100,000 end strength planned for the country. More >

Pfc. Jeffery Meier, who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and drug addiction after two deployments to Iraq, got an appointment in August to see a psychiatrist at Fort Carson, Colo. More >

Defense Secretary Robert Gates landed in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday, determined to see firsthand if the U.S.-led military operation is ready to accept an influx of 30,000 troops within six months.

Along with the initial surge of 1,500 Marines from Camp Lejeune, N.C., who will begin arriving next week, the secretary on Friday signed the deployment orders for approximately 16,000 troops to begin arriving in February through April. More >

"You don't do it alone," Adm. Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday to a crowd gathered at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. "You do it with phenomenal family support. And we could not be the Marine Corps we are, the military we are without extraordinary family support." More >

The nation’s top military commander Monday told soldiers, including many bound for Afghanistan, that he expects casualties to rise next year as additional U.S. troops pour into the war. More >

It happened suddenly, if not unexpectedly. The village of Mirdesh had not been patrolled by Afghan or coalition troops in 10 months, and it was a known safe haven for enemy fighters. More >

In hindsight the warning signs all look so obvious. An Army doctor in medical school who preferred offering militant political screeds about Islam in place of assigned papers on scientific topics. A psychiatrist who sought to have some patients charged with war crimes for their actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. More >

More than 40 Army reservists dedicated to counseling troubled soldiers in war zones deployed to Afghanistan on Friday, a month after a shooting spree at Fort Hood left nearly a fourth of their unit dead or seriously wounded. More >

Amanda Collier started college last August armed with a certificate of eligibility to use Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits that her dad, a Coast Guardsman of 22 years, had earned and transferred to her. More >

A Fort Drum soldier accused of fatally stabbing two fellow servicemen has been arraigned on fugitive from justice charges in Ohio and has agreed to return to New York to face murder charges. More >

Declaring “our security is at stake,” President Barack Obama ordered an additional 30,000 U.S. troops into the long war in Afghanistan on Tuesday night, nearly tripling the force he inherited but promising an impatient public to begin withdrawal in 18 months. More >

Will McLain is 18-years-old and a week away from taking the oath to enlist in the United States Army. We gave him a video camera to show us how he was passing the time; there were lots of parties.

“It’s always funny because even when I'm partying with my friends or something like that they always got to throw those Army jokes in. … They think I'm doing a good thing. They figure it’s better than just rotting away in Rosamond."

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WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Declaring "our security is at stake," President Barack Obama ordered an additional 30,000 U.S. troops into the long war in Afghanistan Tuesday night, nearly tripling the force he inherited as commander in chief. He promised an impatient public he would begin bringing units home in 18 months. More >

Even before President Obama formally announced his plan for Afghanistan, the debate over whether it was the correct strategy was well under way. Obama on Tuesday night said he is sending about 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan with a goal of concluding the war and withdrawing most U.S. service members within three years. More >

Army brigade leaders at Fort Campbell have begun monthly meetings of officers, doctors and counselors to catch early signs of emotional or mental stress among their troops and intervene before soldiers hurt themselves or others. More >

WASHINGTON –To expedite the delivery of benefits to many injured servicemembers who receive disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department announced the expansion of a program with the Department of Defense (DoD) to streamline the application process for people retiring or exiting the military due to disabilities. More >

For Vivienne Pacquette, being a combat veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder means avoiding phone calls to her sons, dinner out with her husband and therapy sessions that make her talk about seeing the reds and whites of her friends’ insides after a mortar attack in 2004. More >

A congressional watchdog agency reported Thursday that the Defense Department cannot locate post-deployment health questionnaires for more than 72,000 people — about 23 percent of service members who have returned from combat since Jan. 1, 2007, when the detailed assessments were supposed to be kept for anyone deployed for 30 days or longer. More >

President Obama has decided to expedite the deployment of 30,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan over the next six months, in an effort to reverse the momentum of Taliban gains and create urgency for the government in Kabul to match the American surge with one using its own forces, according to senior administration officials. More >

BEIJING — President Obama said Wednesday he was “very close to a decision” on a troop increase for the war in Afghanistan and would make his case to the American people for his Afghan strategy in the next “several weeks.” More >

Washington (CNN) -- Suicides among soldiers this year have topped last year's record-breaking numbers, but Army officials maintain a recent trend downward could mean the service is making headway on its programs designed to reduce the problem, Army officials said Tuesday. More >

On Thursday a group of senators unveiled new legislation to expand the use of the post-9/11 GI Bill, this time including cash for on-the-job training programs, certification and testing fees, apprenticeship costs and other non-university options. More >

FORT HOOD, Texas — They were supposed to be spending a day leading Mass, talking to soldiers about love and marriage, readying for their own deployment. Instead, the military chaplains of Fort Hood found themselves on the afternoon of Nov. 5 scrambling to the front lines of the worst shooting massacre on a military base in U.S. history. More >

No one pays a higher price for our freedom than members of our Nation's military and their families. As sons and daughters, husbands and wives, and mothers and fathers are deployed, military families endure with exceptional resilience and courage. More >

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric K. Shinseki unveils the department’s comprehensive plan to end homelessness among veterans by marshalling the resources of government, business and the private sector. More >

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. -- Two days before shipping off to war, Marine Pfc. Jesse Sheets sat inside a trailer in the Mojave Desert, his gaze fixed on a computer that flashed a rhythmic pulse of contrasting images. More >

Young men and women from small towns and big cities across the country were preparing to leave for a tour of duty or just returning home when they found themselves together at the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center at Fort Hood on Thursday. They could not possibly have been ready for what came next. More >

Inside a Northfield classroom, teachers and community leaders are learning how the big guard deployment will impact military kids.

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The Army has released a pocket-sized suicide awareness guide for small-unit leaders to use as a comprehensive, quick reference for identifying Soldiers at risk and connecting them to suicide-intervention resources. More >

ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska — Nearing a decision on sending more troops off to war, President Barack Obama told a military audience Thursday that he will not dispatch them into conflict without proper support — including the backing of the American people. More >

WASHINGTON — Morale has fallen among U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, where troops are seeing record violence in the 8-year-old war, while those in Iraq show much improved mental health amid much lower violence, the Army said Friday. More >

A small group of U.S. war veterans, the age difference among them as wide as 70 years, gathered last Saturday at American Legion Post 177 in Fairfax, Va., for a special event at the annual Veterans' Day Community Fair. More >

BOISE, Idaho — Rep. Walt Minnick says he intends to introduce a bill this week in the U.S. House that would require the government to reimburse veterans for health care related travel costs. More >