DOD was not ready to test deployed troops for COVID-19 and still not testing!

‘No availability’ of coronavirus tests for troops in Afghanistan

Roll Call
By John M. Donnelly
Posted March 13, 2020

The committee has asked Defense Department officials similar coronavirus questions about U.S. troops stationed or deployed in or near other risk countries in addition to Afghanistan. The committee is still waiting for replies, an aide said.

In a March 11 letter to Pentagon and National Guard leaders, Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin asked if testing is available in Afghanistan. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call file photo)

U.S. troops in Afghanistan are not being tested for the novel coronavirus, U.S. military officials told the House Armed Services Committee.

There is “no availability of testing for COVID-19” for troops there, a U.S. Central Command representative told the committee in a March 12 statement made available by the committee on Friday.

Members of Congress are particularly concerned about the nearly 13,000 troops in Afghanistan because many of them are deployed near Iran.

Iran has more than 11,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the third most in the world behind China’s 80,000-plus cases and Italy’s more than 15,000, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Many U.S. troops are stationed in Italy.

South Korea, another nation with a substantial U.S. military presence, has nearly 8,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 — the fourth most in the world.
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Multiple military deployments in families may raise teen suicide risk

Multiple military deployments in families may raise teen suicide risk
LA Times
By Alan Zarembo
November 18, 2013

Teens with family members in the military appear more at risk for suicide if those relatives are deployed abroad multiple times, a USC study finds.

Teenagers with family members in the military were more likely to contemplate suicide if their relatives were deployed overseas multiple times, according to researchers from USC.

After analyzing survey data from 14,299 secondary school students in California — including more than 1,900 with parents or siblings in the military — the researchers found a link between a family member's deployment history and a variety of mental health problems, including "suicidal ideation," or thoughts about suicide.

Their study, published online Monday by the Journal of Adolescent Health, joins a growing body of evidence that the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have taken a hefty toll on children in military families.

"The cost of military deployment goes well beyond money and our soldiers' lives," said Stephan Arndt, a University of Iowa psychologist who was not involved in the study. His work has found elevated rates of drug and alcohol use among children whose parents were currently or recently deployed.

Most research on the mental health of military children has focused on those who are already receiving treatment or attending special summer camps. Those kinds of studies don't allow experts to estimate the rates of psychiatric problems among all military children or make comparisons with other children.

So the USC team tried a different approach. The researchers piggybacked on a statewide health survey of public school students in 2011 and added questions for seventh-, ninth- and 11th-graders in four Southern California school districts — all near military bases — about the military status and deployment histories of their parents and siblings.

Students with close relatives serving in the military were no more likely to suffer mental health problems than students with no relatives on active duty, the team found. The key factor was how many times a parent or sibling — currently serving or not — had been deployed during the previous decade.
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Army admits deployment linked to elevated risk of suicide

This is not just hump day it is vindication day for me and my grassroots colleagues. We were right all along and this study proves it. We are out there everyday talking to veterans and their families because we are veterans and family members! We saw the connection between combat and suicides years before many of the new veterans were born. None of this is new to us.

The military has been able to claim whatever they want up until now with reporters just repeating their claims with absolutely no fact checking. Each one of us reads what they claim, jump on the emails and make phone calls discussing the stupidity of assumptions reported as fact right after we have dealt with talking a veteran off the ledge or comforting a family when it is too late to help and they are blaming themselves for not doing enough.

Now with this report families can finally know the truth is coming out and maybe, just maybe, the Army is ready to start talking facts and restore hope they will finally get it right on helping our soldiers heal.

Army STARRS study busting myths on suicide
US Army
By Gary Sheftick
September 16, 2013

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Sept. 9, 2013) -- Although researchers are just beginning to analyze data collected from more than 110,000 Soldiers, they have already busted some myths and discovered patterns related to suicide.

One finding confirms an elevated risk of suicide associated with a Soldier's first deployment.

Multiple deployments don't seem to raise the risk, however. That might be because Soldiers make choices after their first deployment or develop coping mechanisms, according to researchers involved in the Army's "Study To Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers," or Army STARRS.

The five-year study was undertaken in 2009, in response to the rising rate of military suicides. It's the largest study ever attempted on mental health risk and resilience among service members, and it involves an expansive partnership between the Army, the National Institute of Mental Health and several universities.

The coalition of researchers found a statistically significant rise in suicides following initial deployments. This finding contrasts sharply with a study featured in the Journal of the American Medical Association's Aug. 7 edition. Led by personnel at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, that study found no association between deployments and increased suicide risk.

That's just not the case for the Army, as depicted by Army STARRS data, said Dr. Michael Schoenbaum, collaborating scientist at NIMH.

"Soldiers who have deployed at least once do have an elevated suicide rate compared with Soldiers who never deployed," Schoenbaum said.

The AMA Journal article was based on analysis of data from the DOD Millennium Cohort Study that sampled all service members, Schoenbaum said, surmising at least half of the participants were Sailors and Airmen. In contrast, Army STARRS examines only Soldiers.

"There are a lot of reasons to expect that the experience during deployment of Air Force and Navy personnel is really substantially different from Army and Marine [personnel]," Schoenbaum said.

COMBAT MOSs HIGHER RISK

Troops in combat jobs have a higher propensity to commit suicide, the Army study found, and that may help explain some differences in conclusions.

"We've identified some MOS (military occupational specialty) categories that are associated with elevated suicide risk," Schoenbaum said. Those military occupational specialties include artillery and infantry.

Willingness to take risks might be a factor in Soldiers choosing a combat MOS, proposed Dr. James Churchill, NIMH program officer.

"They might be risk-takers, willing to step out into the street and lead their platoon," Churchill said, adding that it could help them excel at their jobs. "But at the same time, it might put them at risk for other types of things as well."

These Soldiers have an elevated risk for both fatal accidents and suicides.

"We've already found that many of the same factors that predict risk for suicide also predict risk for accident death," Schoenbaum said.

"And you might think that accidents are accidents -- that these are random events. But we're not actually finding that," he said.
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Maybe now you understand that Suicides After War and the program the DOD has been pushing of Comprehensive Soldier Fitness has not worked! This was a five year study and CSF has been going on for longer.

Microsoft tells troops just use old Xbox instead of new one?

Take a look at how real looking this game is. Call of Duty Game Play then think about something. While this game may be played by a lot of kids and young adults, few of them are willing to do for real what they pretend to do in a game. For others, they think real combat is like the game but when they face real training, they awaken to something they never expected. This game is not recommended to be played by anyone dealing with PTSD. It doesn't help.

New Xbox 'a sin against all service members'
Microsoft says troops should use old gear instead
Army Times
By Jon R. Anderson
Staff writer
Jun. 14, 2013

Navy Lt. Scott Metcalf was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new Xbox One. Now he’s not even sure if he’ll buy one.

Indeed, for many in the military, the next-gen Xbox console may offer more endemic frustration than grand epic gaming, particularly for those deployed downrange, aboard ships and stationed overseas.

Xbox One, Microsoft’s much-anticipated new console, got its big reveal at the Electronic Entertainment Expo gamers’ convention in Los Angeles. Company honchos are confident it will come to dominate living rooms over the next decade not only as the gaming delivery vehicle of choice, but also with a barrage of other content, including a suite of apps, streaming video and music.

There’s one big but, however: To get all this entertainment awesomeness, the console will have to check in online with the Microsoft mothership at least once a day.

“With Xbox One you can game offline for up to 24 hours on your primary console, or one hour if you are logged on to a separate console accessing your library. Offline gaming is not possible after these prescribed times until you re-establish a connection,” an Xbox spokesperson tell Military Times.
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Michael Avery, a professor at Suffolk University Law School Westboro Light

After Westboro hate group started to protest at selected military funerals, I didn't think it was possible to feel this much disgust for another person. Michael Avery just turned my stomach to the point where getting up this morning filled me with regret. This was the worst email I've read in a long time.

A friend sent me the link to this story. It came in a couple of days ago but I've just been too busy to read it. Much like Avery must have been too busy trying to prove he doesn't have a clue how this nation became to be on the backs of men and yes, women, willing to lay down their lives for it. He doesn't care that the men and woman serving overseas are not there because they want to be there but are serving because they think this nation is worth it and so are the others they serve with.

They don't care what political party one of the members of their unit belong to when a bomb blows them up. They grieve for one of their own. Their lives offer many examples of what the rest of us forgot. That while war may be political, they are not. Politicians decide when they fight and where they fight but in the end, no matter where it is or what generation was sent, they fight for each other.

In all the years I've been working with them I have never once heard one of them say that killing anyone was worth their own life but they readily say they would die for one of their buddies.

This man Avery has no clue what they are like but he decided it was "shameful" to ask for donations to send them care packages?

If he wants to be a greedy SOB and not make a donation, ok, fine, that's all he needed to say. He decided to send out a rant of an email saying "who have gone overseas to kill other human beings" as if they all got together ten years ago and decided to pick on Afghan civilians. Does he think that they had so much fun doing it they decided to head to Iraq to kill them too?

Avery must not know much at all or care about what type of person made this nation in the first place but for a constitutional law professor to say something so stupid I feel sorry for the parents of his students paying a lot of money for him to "teach" their kids. Maybe he's trying to get the same kind of publicity Westboro hate group has gotten off hating the troops while they are lacking publicity on the simple fact the troops are willing to die for his right to hate them.

Tomorrow I'm filming families putting together care packages for their family members in Afghanistan and I doubt I'll find a single family member telling me they are having a good time killing others. This man is as shameful as they come!

U.S. - US
Massachusetts Law Professor Calls Care Packages for U.S. Troops 'Shameful'
Published November 14, 2011
FoxNews.com

Michael Avery, a professor at Suffolk University Law School, reportedly sent an email to colleagues saying it is "shameful" to send care packages to U.S. troops.

A Massachusetts law professor has created a campus firestorm with an email to colleagues that declares it would be "shameful" to send care packages to U.S. troops "who have gone overseas to kill other human beings."

Michael Avery, a professor at Suffolk University Law School, sent a five-paragraph email to colleagues in response to a school-wide appeal for care packages for deployed soldiers, Fox affiliate WFXT-TV reports.

"I think it is shameful that it is perceived as legitimate to solicit in an academic institution for support for men and women who have gone overseas to kill other human beings," Avery wrote.

The professor, who specializes in constitutional law, wrote the email last week in response to a university drive to collect items for U.S. troops, like sunblock and sanitary products. He also wrote that sympathy for American troops in harm's way is "not particularly rational in today's world."

Paul Spera, past commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, blasted Avery's remarks on Monday, calling the professor's argument "despicable."

"The shameful thing is that he’s teaching our young people," Spera told FoxNews.com.

"One of the things that we've learned from Vietnam is to separate the warriors from the war. You can be opposed to the war -- you can disagree with the tactics and the political decision involved -- but the individuals on the battle field are there protecting us," said Spera, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam.
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Troops should not have to worry about pay on top of everything else

If I hear one more elected official whine about the need to not raise taxes on anyone, including ending the funding of the wealthy with their tax cuts, while the troops are worried about being paid while in combat, I'll never vote again. I haven't missed one single election since the age of 18 and thought it was my duty to vote but it is sickening when members of congress causing this mess don't have to worry about their own pay but the troops do. Veterans do. The elderly do. These debts have been paid forward already so why are a bunch of men and women elected to office able to get paid for shooting off their mouths but those shot at have to worry yet again about their pay checks?

Mullen hears litany of budget, debt worries from troops as he travels Afghanistan

By Associated Press

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan — A half a world away from the Capitol Hill deadlock, the economy and debt crisis are weighing heavily on U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

And the top question on their minds Saturday even as bombings rocked the city around them, was one the top U.S. military officer couldn’t answer.

Will we get paid?

“I actually don’t know how the answer to that question,” Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told a group of troops, while at the same time telling them they will continue to go to work each day.

But he offered a bit more optimism than defense officials have acknowledged when those questions have come up in recent weeks.
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Mullen hears litany of budget, debt worries

Tough talk about putting their foot down for yet another round of them wanting to take away from others to help out the rich is evil. How many times will they be allowed to get away with this? When will they make sure the people defending this nation have at least their pay protected? They have enough to worry about already like if they will have jobs when they are discharged but this congress has not been interested in creating any jobs. They've been too busy taking them away. State after state has lost jobs but this congress doesn't give a damn. They point to the fact the "stimulus" money didn't work without ever saying that all the money was not used and too much of it is still sitting in the bank.

Congress gets paid if they work or not so they just don't care at all.

Editorial: Will Speaker Boehner and Tea Party Stop Veterans' Disability Checks?
Written by VCS
Friday, 29 July 2011 14:19

Veterans' Social Programs Remain Vital Success for Veterans and America
July 29, 2011 (VCS) - Is history repeating itself? On July 28, 1932, veterans died in Washington, DC for our freedom to assemble and demand action from our government.

On that date, World War I veterans had gathered on the National Mall to collect deferred pay, only to be met with indifference by Congress and Republican President Herbert Hoover, claiming there was no money. Hoover fought for business deregulation, fought against social programs, and he fought for low taxes for the rich and corporations, some of the causes of our Great Depression. Sound familiar?
Let us take a moment today and thank the Bonus Army marchers. In the end, Hoover's maltreatment of veterans is credited, in part, with the landslide victory of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who later saved our country from the Great Depression with his extensive and successful New Deal social programs. Congress eventually paid the veterans in 1936. The U.S. military, led by FDR, would later defeat Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Fascist Italy in World War II.
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Will Speaker Boehner and Tea Party Stop Veterans Disability Checks

Jacob's Light will shine bright for deployed soldiers

Fallen soldiers Mom needs help taking care of other "kids" CNN gave this Mom some much needed publicity for the work she is doing not just at Christmas time but all year long.
Added On December 27, 2010
Dorine Kenney started sending boxes to soldiers 11 days after her son was killed. Now she runs Jacob's Light Foundation.
Jacob's Light


Huffington Post picked up on it too. Spread the word so that Jacob's Light can shine even brighter for our deployed soldiers!
WATCH: Mother Of Killed Soldier Sends Thousands Of Care Packages To Troops
Mother Of Killed Soldier Sends Thousands Of Care Packages To Troops

Operation Thriller, USO Authors' Tour

This series of LKL blog exclusives was written by five authors on their experiences from the recent USO tour ‘Operation Thriller’ in the Gulf to entertain our troops.
November 23, 2010
Operation Thriller: Real Life 'Rambo'
David Morrell
USO Authors’ Tour
Kuwait/Iraq 2010

“We joined the army because of your novel and the movie,” two wounded soldiers told me at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The novel and movie they referred to are First Blood, in which the character of Rambo was created.

“Which means that I bear a responsibility for your being in this hospital,” I told them.

“Not at all,” they answered. “Bad guys planted an IED that blew us up. You didn’t do that. We joined the military for the same reason Rambo did—to help our country. We’re not as badly injured as some of the guys here. We leave the hospital in a couple of weeks, and we want to go back to our unit.”

Whatever I expected at the start of the first-ever USO authors’ tour, it wasn’t a conversation like that. Our journey took us to bases in Kuwait and Iraq, where our group (the other authors were Steve Berry, Andy Harp, Douglas Preston, and James Rollins) emphasized that we wrote made-up action while the troops experienced the real thing, and all we could hope is that our inventions helped to distract them from reality.
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Operation Thriller

Soldier: “Do they realize we’re still over here?”

Soldier: “Do they realize we’re still over here?”

Posted: 06:40 PM ET

Danielle Dellorto
CNN Medical Producer

I remember shuffling through moondust up to my knees in Helmand Province when a U.S. Army combat medic turned to me and said, “If I ask you something, do you promise you’ll be honest?” I nodded yes. “Do people back home still think about us? Do they realize we’re still over here?”

I’ll never forget that moment.

Truth is, while most of America might know that 62,000 U.S. military personnel are in theater, they apparently aren’t happy about it. A recent CNN/Opinion Research poll found that support of the war in Afghanistan has hit a new low. Only 39 percent favor U.S. military action in Afghanistan.

But does supporting the overall mission go hand-in-hand with supporting the troops?
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Soldier Do they realize we are still over here

Ordered stop-loss payouts still undelivered

It's not bad enough they get stop-loss ordered to stay in now they are not even getting what they were promised as far as paying them! First they are promised they will serve a certain amount of time, but we go back on that promise. Then we promise to pay them extra for what they are put through. Then we go back on that promise too? We also promise to take care of them if they get wounded and we all know how that turns out too many times for them. Can't we get anything right when it comes to the men and women serving?

Ordered stop-loss payouts still undelivered
Two months after Congress ordered special pay of up to $500 a month for anyone involuntarily kept on active duty under stop-loss orders, nobody has received a dime.

But the wait may be coming to an end. Senior Army officials are close to issuing a recommendation on whether to pay the full $500 allowance authorized by Congress and when payments might begin, according to Senate aides monitoring the program.

The decision, one of the last military pay actions by the Bush administration, must be cleared by the House and Senate Appropriations committees before payments begin.

Army spokesman Maj. Nathan Banks could not say when an announcement would be made, but he noted that top Army officials are reviewing a payment plan for submittal to Congress.

“Congress authorized the payment, but the amount could be anywhere from zero to $500,” Banks said.

Senate aides, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Banks appears cautious about not overpromising.

“I would be very surprised if the amount was less than $500, especially because we provided full funding for that amount,” one aide said. “The Army would have to make a very strong case why it needs to pay less.”

Anyone who spends even one day of a month in fiscal 2009 under stop-loss orders would be eligible for what the law calls “stop-loss special pay.”
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Deployed soldiers are paying attention to election, but wish someone paid attention to them

Is the economy important in this election? Absolutely! But imagine being in Iraq or Afghanistan right now and noticing how little coverage there is in either place. Would you feel as if anyone cared anymore? It keeps getting forgotten that everything that happens here affects them just as much as it does us because they have family here dealing with it and know they will have to return to it as well. They just have the extra burden on their shoulders trying to do their duty and stay alive. Why have the politicians forgotten them?

McCain, well he still wants to use them to sell his "I know how to win wars" but never addresses the simple fact the surge of troops had little to do with it and it was the rest that went on to reduce the violence and our troops dying as well as the Iraqis. Obama is focused on the economy and says that he wants to bring the troops home from Iraq and build up forces in Afghanistan. Aside from that, they are hardly mentioned.

One other missing subject in this election is the veterans, especially the wounded veterans needing care. McCain says he cares about them but his votes have proven he really doesn't. Obama serves on the Veterans Affairs Committee and has been part of the changes for the better in the VA, but we are left to wonder why it is Obama never really brings any of this up. Why wouldn't he be proud of his record on veterans issues compared to McCain? While they will say there are only so many hours in the day, it would be a wonderful thing if some reporter interviewing them would at least bring the subject of the troops deployed and the veterans who have been wounded at least once in a while. They noticed.

Soldiers see wars, economy as key election concerns
European edition, Friday, October 31, 2008



For Staff Sgt. Derek Detherow, based in Baghdad’s Sadr City district, the Iraq war is by far the biggest issue in the upcoming U.S. elections.

After all, the decisions that the future president will make on the war will directly affect him.

"The biggest thing in my life is here in Iraq," Detherow, who is with 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment, said recently. "I can’t see too much beyond that."

Detherow said he doesn’t like how little attention is paid to his soldiers who are out working every single day. Yet he also acknowledged that there was some good in not being such a hot topic this year.

"The way I look at it, there are pros and cons of both the Republicans and the Democrats, and I don’t really favor either side," said Pvt. Gabriel Esquero, 25, of Alamogordo, N.M. "I’m just for whatever presidential candidate is ready to build the economy back up."

Esquero added that he believed both candidates had failed to talk enough to voters about what is at stake in Afghanistan.

"I think a lot of people fail to know what the issues are here," he said. "A lot of people think this is a wasted effort here."
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US Troops in Iraq are heavy smokers

U.S. troops in Iraq are heavy smokers
2:27 PM, October 28, 2008

American sailors and Marines stationed in Iraq are more than twice as likely to use tobacco products as the average American, according to a study presented today at the annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.

In a survey of 408 Marines and sailors, Dr. Michael A. Wilson found 64% used some form of tobacco: 52% smoked cigarettes, 36% used smokeless tobacco and 24% used both. In contrast, the national average for tobacco use is 29.6%. Wilson found the rate of tobacco use is higher now among U.S. troops in Iraq than was found in a 2004 survey of troops returning from the war.
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