US Army

Troops say chemicals and medical waste burned at base are making them sick, but officials deny risk

An open-air “burn pit” at the largest U.S. base in Iraq may have exposed tens of thousands of troops, contractors and Iraqis to cancer-causing dioxins, poisons such as arsenic and carbon monoxide, and hazardous medical waste, documentation gathered by Military Times shows.  read more »

(note: if you are a servicemember who is being deployed despite medical problems that will impair your ability to do your job, contact the G.I. Rights Hotline to talk to a trained civillian counselor about steps you can take to stop that deployment and get your medical problem treated.  Call 877-447-4487 or email girights@girightshotline.org)

Stretched Thin, Army Puts Some Vulnerable Soldiers Back on the Frontlines

By BOB WOODRUFF, JAMES HILL and JAIME HENNESSEY, ABC News

Two weeks before his second deployment to Iraq last September, Army Specialist Michael DeVlieger broke down.

"At first, I thought it was something that everybody experienced," DeVlieger told ABC's Bob Woodruff, "and just through time and perseverance I guess it would pass." It didn't pass.

After an 11-day hospitalization, DeVlieger was given a diagnosis of major depressive disorder, three psychiatric prescriptions -- and deployment orders.

"Eighteen hours after he got out of the hospital, he deployed to Iraq," DeVlieger's wife, Christine DeVlieger, recalled. He left for Iraq despite Pentagon policy requiring that service members establish three months of "stability without significant symptoms" before deploying.  read more »

By William H McMichael, ArmyTimes

The American Civil Liberties Union is questioning the use of an active Army brigade as an on-call federal response force within the U.S., arguing that the military is barred from any role in civilian law enforcement and that the force could be used to help the Pentagon conduct domestic surveillance.  read more »

  
  Friday November 7th at First United Methodist Church
  621 Tacoma Ave S in Tacoma
  7pm to 9pm, doors open at 6:30

$8 in advance, $10 at the door.  No one turned away for lack of funds.

Click here for an event flyer: full page  quarter page  read more »

(editors note: learn about the warning signs for suicide at the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's website, or click here to download a card you can print out.  The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's 24 hour toll free hotline number is 1-800-273-TALK)

Army: Number of suicides per 100,000 could pass that of civilian population

WASHINGTON - Soldier suicides this year could surpass the record rate of last year, Army officials said Thursday, urging military leaders at all levels to redouble prevention efforts for a force strained by two wars.  read more »

Army not expected to ease policy before fall 2009

By Michelle Tan, Army Times

Last year’s surge of five combat brigades into Iraq helped drive a 43 percent increase in soldiers being barred from leaving the service under stop-loss orders, and Army leaders predict the policy will remain in place at least through next year. However, they expressed optimism that the numbers will ebb as surge forces redeploy.  read more »

Top Army Leaders forced to take action after YouTube video from Fort Bragg Soldier's Father causes nationwide outcry over poor barracks conditions

By Matthew Cox - Army Times

The Army has cut $248 million from other programs to make immediate fixes to barracks at eight installations across the country.

The move follows an Armywide barracks inspection ordered after the father of an 82nd Airborne Division soldier posted a video on YouTube that showed peeling paint, mold and a bathroom drain plugged with what appeared to be sewage in the barracks that paratroopers from the Fort Bragg, N.C., unit were housed in after returning from a 15-month deployment to Afghanistan.  read more »

I want to know why Gathering of Eagles thinks they have the right to behave in whatever way they see fit and talk to people teh way that they do. The ignorance of these people is amazing. It makes me want to cry more then laugh. I just don't know what to make of it all. So what I want to know is what ya'll think is appropriate in terms of dealing with opposition groups like GOE and Eagles Up etc. My personal policy is ignore the idiots and if they attack me to use appropiate force in defending myself. But I'd like some other opinions...

An
army of one

Do
you hear the dead complaining?

Killing
is easy--

it
don't mean shit.  read more »

By THOM SHANKER, New York Times

WASHINGTON — Army leaders are expressing increased alarm about the mental health of soldiers who would be sent back to the front again and again under plans that call for troop numbers to be sustained at high levels in Iraq for this year and beyond.

Among combat troops sent to Iraq for the third or fourth time, more than one in four show signs of anxiety, depression or acute stress, according to an official Army survey of soldiers’ mental health.  read more »