CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — The number of U.S. deaths in Afghanistan is on track to decline sharply this year, reflecting the drawdown in U.S. forces and an expanded Afghan army that is playing a larger role in fighting the Taliban.

This year, 301 Americans have died in Afghanistan, down from a peak of 500 American deaths in 2010, a USA Today database shows. It is the second consecutive yearly drop.

“A year ago we were taking larger amounts of casualties than they were,” said Marine Maj. Gen. Charles “Mark” Gurganus, referring to Afghan security forces in the former Taliban stronghold of Helmand region in southern Afghanistan. “It is absolutely 180 (degrees) out now,” said Gurganus, head of Regional Command Southwest.

The Afghan Defense Ministry estimates that the Afghan military and police have more than 300 deaths per month. About 80 percent of the operations are led and planned by Afghan forces, the coalition command says.

The Afghan security force has grown to about 350,000. The number of U.S. forces has declined to about 68,000 from a peak of nearly 100,000. “They are really taking the fight now, and we are stepping back,” said German Air Force Brig. Gen. Günter Katz, the top coalition spokesman.

The U.S. and its allies are still in combat zones, providing critical support functions even as coalition forces are playing less of a role in direct combat. The U.S. supplies air support for medical evacuation, equipment to counter roadside bombs and intelligence and surveillance capabilities.

The Senate moved Monday to make sure nobody profits from lying about being a military hero.

The Stolen Valor Act of 2012, sponsored by decorated Vietnam War veteran Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., passed the Senate as an amendment to the 2013 defense authorization bill.

Webb’s proposal makes it a federal crime to make a false claim about having served in the military or having received a military decoration if the object of the lie is personal gain.

Those caught lying for personal gain or for a tangible benefit would face a fine of up to $10,000 and up to six months imprisonment.

This could mean lying to get a job, either for the government or private sector, running for political office, trying to effect the outcome of a civil or criminal court case or getting an appointment to an executive position at a non-profit organization, under terms of Webb’s legislation.

Because people who serve in the military are held in great respect, lies about military service are especially harmful, the bill says. Employers often hire veterans ahead of others, the public often elects veterans, the government sets aside contracts for veterans and people who serve are held in great respect, especially for those who have received awards for valor, the bill says.

“False claims of military service or military heroism are an especially noxious means of obtaining something of value because they are particularly likely to cause a tangible harm to victims of fraud,” the amendment says in its findings.

The Senate-passed amendment, now part of S. 3254, is far from the final work on the bill.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The military has failed to correct the wrongful discharges of thousands of Vietnam veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, an advocacy group says in a federal lawsuit.

Vietnam Veterans of America on Monday joined a proposed class action lawsuit in Hartford against the Army, Navy and Air Force. The lawsuit, first filed last year by a veteran, says the Vietnam veterans suffered PTSD before the condition was recognized and were discharged under other-than-honorable conditions that made them ineligible for disability compensation and other benefits.

The lawsuit says the military has refused to review or upgrade the discharge statuses of thousands of Vietnam War-era veterans with service-related PTSD.

“People did not understand PTSD during the Vietnam era,” said John Rowan, national president of Vietnam Veterans of America. “Now that we do, these service members must not be denied the recognition and benefits they long ago earned.”

The U.S. attorney’s office, which is representing the military in the lawsuit, said it’s reviewing the matter and will respond in court.

The initial lawsuit was filed by John Shepherd, a Vietnam veteran from New Haven, who says he was diagnosed with PTSD in 2004 but has been repeatedly denied a discharge upgrade.

Shepherd and the VVA, which has about 65,000 members, are represented by Yale Law School students who work at a veterans legal services clinic. The students say since 2003 the Army has approved fewer than 2 percent of applications by Vietnam veterans claiming PTSD to upgrade discharges, compared to 46 percent for all discharge upgrade applications in recent years.

Some of the veterans denied had at least one medal or had a PTSD diagnosis from the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to the students, who analyzed the Army data.

“The military has failed to apply consistent and medically appropriate standards to assess the impact of service-related PTSD on the conduct that led to discharge, resulting in the defendants’ discriminatory and near-categorical denial of discharge upgrade applications by Vietnam veterans who served in theater and developed PTSD,” the lawsuit states.