Robyn Gee, Turnstyle News
Until yesterday, it was the White House’s policy that family members of those soldiers who commit suicide while on active duty do not receive letters of condolence from the POTUS. Yesterday, President Obama reversed that decision in a continuing effort to erase the stigma associated with mental health problems in the military, according to CBS News. NPR published an excerpt of Obama’s statement:
“Since taking office, I've been committed to removing the stigma associated with the unseen wounds of war, which is why I've worked to expand our mental health budgets, and ensure that all our men and women in uniform receive the care they need.... This issue is emotional, painful, and complicated, but these Americans served our nation bravely. They didn't die because they were weak. And the fact that they didn't get the help they needed must change.”
Around 2008, the Pentagon began actively fighting the mental health stigma that exists for service members. Marine Lt. Gen. John Sattler headed up the Joint Staff Wounded Warrior Integration Team and said in a press release, “[Service members] are going to perform better, they will be better warriors – soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines – if they are completely healed inside as well as outside.”
In 2009, the military took several steps to reduce the escalating rate of soldier suicides. The New York Times reported on new emotional resiliency training introduced to every Army service member. “The training, the first of its kind in the military, is meant to improve performance in combat and head off the mental health problems, including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide, that plague about one-fifth of troops returning from Afghanistan and Iraq,” reported the Times.
However, in October 2010, New York Times headlines were not encouraging, reporting that 20 service members had committed suicide on an army base over the course of one year in Fort Hood, Texas.
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The following originally aired on KCBS.
By Tajah Jones
When I first think of a villain I think of the joker, not Osama bin Laden.Bin Laden and the war seemed distant from my everyday life. What affected me was the racial prejudice against Muslims and people of color following September 11th.
During the last presidential election, there was a poster circulating of Barack Obama with a long beard and a turban. Beneath the image it read, “Obama bin Laden.” The image shocked me as extreme propaganda.
This really struck me when I visited my Muslim cousin in D.C. -- 6 years after 9/11. We went through airport security and my cousin was unnecessarily questioned because of her hijab. As if simply being Muslim made her dangerous – or a terrorist. Until then, I never associated being an American Muslim with Bin Laden. They seemed like two totally different things.
I know he’s supposed to be the scariest man of our time, or the face of evil, but Osama Bin Laden didn’t scare me. The people who don’t question what they hear -- they scare me.
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Originally published and broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio as part of a Youth Radio series.
by Mara Fink, Minnesota Public Radio
September 20, 2010
St. Paul, Minn. — On the morning of December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in an attack that began a devastating period for Japanese Americans in the United States.
In the following months, more than 110,000 of them were rounded up and sent to internment camps scattered around the western half of the United States. The government was worried they might be aiding the Japanese army, even though many had been in the United States since the beginning of the 1900s and had children who were American citizens.
One of the families affected was Mara Kumagai Fink's, a senior at St. Olaf College and a reporter for MPR's Youth Radio series. Mara spent the summer visiting the internment camps and uncovering what happened to her family during the war.
Why weren't they angry?
Ever since I was in grade school I've known that my Grandma Kay was forced to live in an internment camp during World War II. Her family was taken from their strawberry farm on Bainbridge Island, Washington and lived in army barracks in the desert. But whenever I ask her about it, she tells me it wasn't that big of a deal.
"Actually camp life, it's an experience, but I don't think it hurt," Grandma Kay said. "I think it hurt a lot of people, but mostly financially."
Grandma Kay said being as young as she was at the time, in her early 20s, it didn't bother her at all and considered it just something you endure and said it was "fine."
How could living in desert camps with barbed wire and guards with guns be fine? I wanted to see for myself. My Grandma's memory is not what it once was and so I took her younger sister with me to the internment camp in California where her family was sent during the war.
After fighting and risking their lives to protect, military veterans are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to getting employed, that is according to the Executive Director of Hire Heroes USA.
Youth Radio spoke to Brian Stann, Executive Director of Hire Heroes USA, a nonprofit organization that focuses on career placement and transition assistance for veterans, says unemployment for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is at 25 percent. He also said that it's not because of lack of jobs but it's because veterans aren't sure how to market their military skills.
In order to continue providing veterans with skills that can help better market themselves to employers, Hire Heroes USA needs more money. That’s why it has launched the Memorial Day campaign via Facebook in order to meet their goal of $30,000. Youth Radio spoke to Stann about the campaign and what people have to do in order to help raise the money.
YMI: How does the Memorial Day campaign work?
Stann: We have the opportunity to raise $30,000 from the Call of Duty Endowment by helping them get 30,000 people to "like" their (Facebook) page. The Call of Duty video game--the biggest selling game in America right now-and the company that makes that game, Activation Blizzard, has established an endowment, the Call of Duty Endowment. About nine months ago they started vetting organizations, knowing that this endowment was going to give nonprofit organizations that made a difference in the lives of our combat veterans. My organization came out at the end as one of the ones that they want to donate to. They awarded us a grant of $20,000 with the ability of this weekend to make $30,000 more. We get $1 dollar for every person that clicks on their endowment Facebook page and click "like"-that they like it. The campaign started Thursday (May 27th) and goes on to Monday.
YMI: How will the money earned through the campaign be utilized?
Stan: It's going directly towards our seminars and transitioning assistant workshops that we conduct. We travel to military bases and wounded warriors rehabilitation facilities and have an instructor to student ratio of 1 to 3 and we write resumes and conduct mock interviews. We teach them how to communicate in civilian terms and translate their military skills.
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By: Shehryar Sadiq
Shehryar Sadiq, 24, was a recent graduate student at Cardiff University in the United Kingdom. He has grown up in Lahore, Pakistan.
The Afghani and Pakistani people see the American’s presence in Afghanistan as yet another invasion. How can the most powerful nation in the world, with all of its spy satellites and technology not been able to find ‘Osama’? My people don’t buy that. I don’t believe it either! What we see are innocent men, women and children dying on both sides (Afghanistan and the troops from various countries involved in the invasion). This is what fuels anger and hatred for the Americans and the West.
At the end of every Friday prayer, the Preacher will mention the Chechnya-Russian conflict, the Palestinian-Israel conflict, the Kashmir-Indian issue and the Afghan and Iraq invasion by the west. This is what bothers them the most. These are the true roots of hatred and extremism and those who want to can nurture children under their authority in medressa’s for things like suicide bombings etc. However, I would like to stress that Islam condemns killing innocent people and committing suicide. Religious beliefs fade when one is driven by vengeance, hate and anger. Another important issue is regarding the Madressah (religious school). The majority of Pakistani and Afghani people is poor and has access to public education whose standard is deplorable. Parents can barely make ends meet. Frequently, the youth are forced into child labour. Kids as young as five-years-old and as old as to 20-years-old are easily recruited by preachers to stay and learn Islam in Madressa’s (religious schools). Free food, shelter and the company of other kids are some things that attract kids to Madressa’s. I strongly support the concept of the Madressah given the appalling condition of the education system. The children view the preacher as a fatherly figure. Sometimes this can be dangerous because the preacher can determine who the child will be brought up.
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In his speech on Tuesday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, President Obama outlined his plans for ending the war in Afghanistan: defeat al Qaeda, stabilize Pakistan, and break the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan. In order to accomplish this, Obama plans on sending 30,000 additional troops. He emphasized that he did “not make this decision lightly.”
President Obama added,
“Let me be clear: none of this will be easy. The struggle against violent extremism will not be finished quickly, and it extends well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan. It will be an enduring test of our free society, and our leadership in the world.”
(via Huffington Post)
Obama also announced that troops will start coming home in 18 months. News of Obama's 18-month plan was not taken well by Bruce Reidel, the former CIA analyst who chaired Obama's review of his Afghanistan policy in March of this year. Reidel told Reuters , “It's a big gamble. It's probably the biggest gamble of the whole speech and the strategy… It's just unrealistic to expect literally miracles in 18 months.” The Commander-in-Chief appears confident his plan will work. Politically, the move may make sense for Obama, who would be bringing troops home in advance of the 2012 election.
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When President Obama speaks to a TV-watching public tonight about his plan to increase troops in Afghanistan, he will also be speaking live to an audience of teenage and twenty-something cadets at the United States Military Academy in Upstate New York. The administration has said that setting the speech at West Point is a tribute to the “extremely heavy burden” the Army has carried in fighting the war. But the setting also speaks to the fact that it will be young people, in particular, who will carry the burden of the President’s new commitment to the war.
According to the Web site iCasualties.org, the average age of the 76 U.S. troops who died in Afghanistan in the last two months is 26.
News reports and other media have shown that there is no consensus among young active-duty soldiers about whether Obama’s planned surge is a good idea. An Associated Press reporter spoke to soldiers outside Fort Drum in New York. These soldiers may be among the 34,000 troops President Obama is planning on deploying.
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Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 will hit stores Nov.10. You play as Sgt. Gary “Roach” with his team to eliminate a Russian Ultranationalist hell-bent on bringing the world to the brink of collapse. Players can go solo or play with a friend in through head to head multi player or online combat. You and your team fight thought the world form Siberia to Brazil. Modern Warfare 2 has a heart-racing story line with many twists and turns.
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Tom Risen at Scoop 44 takes a good look at the pattern behind Iraq and Afghanistan war vet suicides on college campuses.
“The same amount of suicides happening among active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan are happening among veterans on college campuses,” said Hawthorne, co-founder of the veterans group at George Washington University. “That’s one reason we founded a chapter of Student Veterans of America here, so we can have a place for veterans to come where they can understand each other. There are people on campus who see a guy with the thousand yard stare and the short haircut and they’re like ‘I think I’ll stay away from that guy.”
With the military spread across two wars, nearly 40 percent of the 1.9 million troops who have served in the War on Terror since 2001 have served more than one tour, according to Army statistics. Along with the memory and strain of service, student veterans who are still in their eight-year contract live with the fear of being activated and sent on another tour.
In addition to covering the suicide phenomenon, Risen's piece delves into the reasons behind why some vets find it hard to acclimate into college, and the effect underfunding is having on mental health care for veterans.
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