NEW YORK - Responding to preliminary data released today by the Department of Defense (DoD) revealing a record-high suicide rate in the Army, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the nation's first and largest nonpartisan group for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, introduced a comprehensive report on the psychological injuries faced by our newest generation of veterans.
"The suicide numbers released today come as no surprise to veterans, who have experienced first-hand the psychological toll of war. Since the Iraq war began, suicide rates and other signs of psychological injury, like marital strain and substance abuse, have been increasing every year," said IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff. "The DOD and the VA must take bold and immediate action. Our new report recommends tangible, effective policies to help troops and veterans get the care they need."
According to preliminary military data released by the Associated Press, at least 128 Army soldiers committed suicide in 2008, compared to 115 in 2007. These numbers do not include suicides among veterans, for whom suicide is a growing problem. According to the VA records from 2002 to 2006, at least 254 Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans have killed themselves.
The new IAVA report shows these numbers are reflective of larger trends. Servicemembers deploying on long and repeated combat tours face higher rates of combat stress. In combat and at home, these invisible injuries are exacerbated by inadequate mental health screening and limited access to counseling.
Just this week, IAVA also introduced its' 2009 Legislative Agenda, which calls for improving mandatory mental health and TBI screening, increasing access to trained mental health professionals, and ensuring military families have access to mental health care.
"The new numbers represent the highest Army suicide rate in 27 years," said IAVA Policy Director Vanessa Williamson. "If we're going to address the spike in suicide rates, we have to start by ensuring every servicemember coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan gets face-to-face screening from a mental health professional."
To read the full report, "Invisible Wounds: Psychological and Neurological Injuries Confront a New Generation of Veterans," visit: www.iava.org/mentalhealthreport.
WASHINGTON—Army Secretary Pete Geren has ordered the recall of more than 16,000 sets of body armor following an audit that concluded the bullet-blocking plates in the vests failed testing and may not provide soldiers with adequate protection.
The audit by the office of the Defense Department inspector general, not yet made public but obtained by The Associated Press, faults the Army for flawed testing procedures before awarding a contract for the armor.
In a letter date Jan. 27 to Acting Inspector General Gordon Heddell, Geren said he did not agree that the plates failed the testing or that soldiers were issued deficient gear. He said his opinion was backed by the Pentagon's top testing director.
Despite his insistence that the armor was not deficient, Geren said he was recalling the sets as a precaution.
Geren also said he's asked for a senior Pentagon official to resolve the disagreement between the Army and the inspector general's office.
"To ensure there can be no question regarding the effectiveness of every soldier's body armor, I have today ordered that the plates at issue be identified and collected until such a time as the matter has been adjudicated by the deputy secretary of defense," he wrote.
Hundreds of thousands of body armor sets have been manufactured by nearly a dozen different companies over the past seven years. The vests are now standard gear for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The audit by the inspector general's office was the second requested by Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y. She first asked the watchdog agency to look into the acquisition of the ballistic vests in 2006 after she read newspaper reports saying inadequate body armor was causing U.S. casualties.
The first audit was completed last year, but Slaughter said it wasn't thorough enough.
Slaughter said Wednesday she's satisfied with the latest report but remains concerned the Army has not changed its contracting methods to ensure the troops are getting the best gear.
"I'm not through," she said. "I really want to know which contracts are bad."
President Obama may be riding high in Washington, but OBAMA 1260 is not.
The area's only progressive talk station is changing formats, dropping such syndicated liberal hosts as Ed Schultz, Stephanie Miller and Bill Press in favor of financial news, starting next week.
The move by Redskins owner Dan Snyder, who purchased the station, WWRC, and others in Washington last summer, leaves the city without a liberal radio outlet. Program Director Greg Tantum says he thought the station could work because of enthusiasm over Obama, but that ratings collapsed to a level that could not be measured after the election.
But ratings nearly doubled, he says, at Snyder's conservative station, WTNT, which features Laura Ingraham and Bill Bennett. Tantum said he will move Schultz to WTNT to give him another shot.
Quote by wickedpam:
Difference between those stations
1260am - total STATIC!
WTNT - Clear as a bell.
hmmmm - which is gonna have more listeners, I wonder
Quote by Raine:There you go being all sensical and stuff....Quote by wickedpam:
Difference between those stations
1260am - total STATIC!
WTNT - Clear as a bell.
hmmmm - which is gonna have more listeners, I wonder
Quote by TriSec:
Say, is anyone having problems with facecrack this morning? I'm getting a lot of blank screens and timeouts...
Quote by TriSec:
Yeah, that broke this morning. The leading candidate for Gregg's seat is some Reagan-era tool. Smells like a smoke-filled room may have been involved with the nomination.
Quote by TriSec:
Well, the old Libertarian in me is wondering if instead of spending or tax cuts, maybe they should cut the budget by $800 billion and give the money back to us.
Then again, I'm also leaning in favor of a payroll tax cut, or a tax holiday for a month. What would happen if everyone took home their gross pay for the next 30 days?
Quote by Scoopster:
:bounce: UConn is #1!!
Quote by Scoopster:
:bounce: UConn is #1!!
Quote by Raine:Quote by Scoopster:
:bounce: UConn is #1!!
Basketball?
Oh that is right, March Madness is nipping at our heels...
Quote by Raine:
That would not help the people who don't have a job, tho.
Quote by Raine:
NOT from the Onion....
Joe the Plumber advises GOP-ers
Quote by Raine:
NOT from the Onion....
Joe the Plumber advises GOP-ers
Quote by Scoopster:
Ain't lookin' too bad for the NHL either Tri..
What would you say the Broons chances against the Red Wings in a prospective Stanley Cup Final would be?
Quote by wickedpam:
what it say? it's no longer there
Quote by Raine:Quote by wickedpam:
what it say? it's no longer there
Oh bummer... it was a guy trying to give away a Fish that attacked him... you really had to see it.
Quote by m-hadley:
Got a meeting - gotta run - I'll catch you all laters :D
Cheers,
mfaye
Quote by starling310:
They don't like the Buy American Clause?!?
But, aren't they the "America 1st" party?
Quote by TriSec:
That would be OK for the Red Sox. da Broons are a different animal.
They'll get swept by Montreal.
Quote by Raine:
NOT from the Onion....
Joe the Plumber advises GOP-ers
Quote by velveeta jones:Quote by Raine:
NOT from the Onion....
Joe the Plumber advises GOP-ers
:rofl: are you sure? 'Cause that sounds just too funny.
Quote by Scoopster:
But.. but...b.b.but they lead the season series vs. the Habs 4-1!
Quote by Raine:
At what point can we say that the Republican party has Jumped the shark?
Quote by Scoopster:
Screenshot preview of the new Star Wars Old Republic MMO
Hmmm this is lookin' all kinds of good.
Quote by TriSec:Quote by Scoopster:
But.. but...b.b.but they lead the season series vs. the Habs 4-1!
You are a strange animal, Scoop. Black and Gold blood with Pinstripes?
Quote by Scoopster:
What can I say.. I grew up on the New Haven Nighthawks and idolizing Rejean Lemelin.
Quote by Raine:
Tom Daschle -- I predict -- will be withdrawing his nomination.
Quote by TriSec:
Groundhog bites Mayor!
“Given the heightened response against terrorism, and clearly in this case a terrorist rodent who could very well have been trained by Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, I’m not at liberty to say any more than that,” the mayor said.
Quote by TriSec:
Groundhog bites Mayor!
Quote by Random:
Random is confused...greatly...greatly...confused.
Quote by Random:Quote by Scoopster:
Screenshot preview of the new Star Wars Old Republic MMO
Hmmm this is lookin' all kinds of good.
Is this the Bioware game?
I loved me some KoToR
Quote by Scoopster:Quote by Random:Quote by Scoopster:
Screenshot preview of the new Star Wars Old Republic MMO
Hmmm this is lookin' all kinds of good.
Is this the Bioware game?
I loved me some KoToR
Yep that's the one.. Just tried going to the official website and it took about 5 mins just to load, locked up my whole sheeeit!
Quote by wickedpam:
Any thoughts on who makes a good laptop? (Other then Apple )
THinking about getting one for going online and wireless and maybe doing some work. Any ideas?
Quote by TriSec:
*sigh*
So, another candidate forgot to pay his taxes? Ya know, I'm starting to wonder about our President (or at least his vetting committee) here.
One's an aberration, but three candidates, never mind Bill Richardson?
What's going on around here?
Quote by wickedpam:
Any thoughts on who makes a good laptop? (Other then Apple )
THinking about getting one for going online and wireless and maybe doing some work. Any ideas?
Quote by Random:Quote by TriSec:
*sigh*
So, another candidate forgot to pay his taxes? Ya know, I'm starting to wonder about our President (or at least his vetting committee) here.
One's an aberration, but three candidates, never mind Bill Richardson?
What's going on around here?
It could be that no one on the hill pays their taxes...
Quote by Scoopster:
CQ via Rawstory: Sen. Gregg voted to end Commerce Dept.
Yeahhhh..........
Quote by TriSec:
*sigh*
So, another candidate forgot to pay his taxes? Ya know, I'm starting to wonder about our President (or at least his vetting committee) here.
One's an aberration, but three candidates, never mind Bill Richardson?
What's going on around here?
Quote by TriSec:
Don't know if it's apropo to anything, but watching the Beanpot last night, I noticed an awful lot of empty seats at the ol' Garden.
Used to be they let the students in with a valid ID for a pittance; don't know if they do that anymore.
(And yes, I'm endlessly amused that those of you outside New England have no idea what I'm talking about...)
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by TriSec:
*sigh*
So, another candidate forgot to pay his taxes? Ya know, I'm starting to wonder about our President (or at least his vetting committee) here.
One's an aberration, but three candidates, never mind Bill Richardson?
What's going on around here?
Ya know I was talking last week to a friend of mine who, by trade, is an estate, trust and tax lawyer. Her take on the thing with Giether (who we were discussing) is he didn't forget or what not, it was more likely his tax guy(or gal) wasn't up on the current law and told him he didn't owe tax. I think we can extrapolate that to Daschle & Whatsherface. It isn't a deliberate non-payment, it is an error. Personally I think Daschle is being giant pussy in this situation, but that is just me.
Since I slept for crap last night and the job interview which took every erg, every watt, every calorie of energy I have (and I am running below normal due to the strep thingy) I think I am going to take a nice nap. :sleep:
Quote by Mondobubba:
Huh? College hockey tournament...Boston area schools...where ever hockey gets played in Boston... How long have I know you, Tri? How long have you been going on about the Beanpot in that context, identical lengths of time almost. : rolls over, goes back to sleep:
Quote by BobR:
A right-winger here at work said "I wish they'd just let Obama have who he wants and get the government running again".
I take it as more a slam on the obstructionism of the Republicans than an endorsement of Obama...
Quote by BobR:Quote by wickedpam:
Any thoughts on who makes a good laptop? (Other then Apple )
THinking about getting one for going online and wireless and maybe doing some work. Any ideas?
Dell, Compaq, and HP all make good laptops.
Quote by BobR:Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by TriSec:
*sigh*
So, another candidate forgot to pay his taxes? Ya know, I'm starting to wonder about our President (or at least his vetting committee) here.
One's an aberration, but three candidates, never mind Bill Richardson?
What's going on around here?
Ya know I was talking last week to a friend of mine who, by trade, is an estate, trust and tax lawyer. Her take on the thing with Giether (who we were discussing) is he didn't forget or what not, it was more likely his tax guy(or gal) wasn't up on the current law and told him he didn't owe tax. I think we can extrapolate that to Daschle & Whatsherface. It isn't a deliberate non-payment, it is an error. Personally I think Daschle is being giant pussy in this situation, but that is just me.
Since I slept for crap last night and the job interview which took every erg, every watt, every calorie of energy I have (and I am running below normal due to the strep thingy) I think I am going to take a nice nap. :sleep:
Taking that into consideration, isn't it better that he's not going to take the position?
Quote by TriSec:Quote by Scoopster:
What can I say.. I grew up on the New Haven Nighthawks and idolizing Rejean Lemelin.
Ah, yes. Good ol' Fred Cusick. "Skate save, LEMELIN!!!" still means something in these parts.