Tag Archives: military

TBI a contributor to military suicide?


By SB Anderson

Three interesting and important stories in the past two days on military suicides:

Repeat Brain Injury Raises Soldiers’ Suicide Risk

People in the military who suffer more than one mild traumatic brain injury face a significantly higher risk of suicide, according to research by the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah.

A survey of 161 military personnel who were stationed in Iraq and evaluated for a possible traumatic brain injury – also known as TBI – showed that the risk for suicidal thoughts or behaviors increased not only in the short term, as measured during the past 12 months, but during the individual’s lifetime.

In Calculation of Military Rates, the Numbers Are Not All Straightforward

As the number of suicides in the military began rising a decade ago, Pentagon officials could often be heard repeating a common defense: The military’s suicide rate was still lower than the rate for civilians of comparable age, sex and race.

But an analysis of Pentagon data shows that the Department of Defense uses numbers that may underestimate its suicide rate. A different methodology, like one employed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would result in a military rate equivalent to or above the comparable civilian rate, experts say.

Baffling Rise in Suicides Plagues the U.S. Military

[T]though the Pentagon has commissioned numerous reports and invested tens of millions of dollars in research and prevention programs, experts concede they are little closer to understanding the root causes of why military suicide is rising so fast.

“Any one variable in isolation doesn’t explain things,” said Craig J. Bryan, associate director of the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah. “But the interaction of all of them do. That’s what makes it very difficult to solve the problem. And that’s why we haven’t made advances.”

Sexual assault cases flood military courts


By SB Anderson

Military Times reports on a disturbing side effect for heightened awareness within the military about sexual assaults and campaigns to report them: A deluge of cases being filed, which might “actually make it easier for sex predators to receive acquittals in court.”

With so many cases, “it’s made it harder to prosecute guilty sexual predators.”

“Prosecutors lack witnesses or strong evidence in the majority of cases, making it hard to yield a conviction, said Michael Waddington, a military defense lawyer and former judge advocate in the Army. He sees too many cases that involve alcohol and depend on hearsay.

“The military has the resources to take many sexual assault cases to court, said Philip Cave, a military defense lawyer and retired Navy lawyer. Waddington estimated that ninety percent of the sexual assault cases taken to court-martial would be thrown out in a civilian court because of a lack of evidence.

Judges and juries are skeptical at this point, Cave said.

Full Story

Survey of military families says 6 in 10 don’t seek help for PTSD; gap persists in understanding service member and family sacrifice


By SB Anderson

Blue Star Families this morning released its 2012 snapshot of 4,000 military families.  ”Top concerns” raised in the report: “changes to retirement benefits, pay/benefits, the effects of deployment on children, OPTEMPO, military spouse education and employment, and issues surrounding Post Traumatic Stress (PTS), combat stress, and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).”  (You can view the full report below; click the arrow at the top of the report section to see it full screen. You can also download it).

The report also found “the gap between our military and civilian communities continues to persist, with 95 percent of respondents agreeing with the statement, “The general public does not truly understand or appreciate the sacrifices made by service members and their families.”

The Washington Times today, citing a copy of the report that it received early, said 62% of troops who might have post traumatic stress disorder did not seek medical treatment. 

“Command didn’t think he needed it and didn’t make time available for help,” one spouse said.

One wife added, “My husband did not want to be labeled or somehow ‘excused’ from the military after 16 years of service with no retirement.”

Journos subjected to online ‘reputation attacks’ after questioning military contracts


By SB Anderson

(USA Today) “A USA TODAY reporter and editor investigating Pentagon propaganda contractors have themselves been subjected to a propaganda campaign of sorts, waged on the Internet through a series of bogus websites.

Fake Twitter and Facebook accounts have been created in their names, along with a Wikipedia entry and dozens of message board postings and blog comments. Websites were registered in their names.

“The timeline of the activity tracks USA TODAY’s reporting on the military’s “information operations” program, which spent hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns that have been criticized even within the Pentagon as ineffective and poorly monitored.

Full Story | USAT story on dubious “info ops” programs

DOD’s latest annual report on military personnel now available


By SB Anderson

All kind of data and facts about those serving, including age, race, ethnicity, gender, home state, education, etc., included for FY 2010. Overall summary report is below. Links at bottom to appendices that have more detail. This report and link to earlier years are available here. (Click the icon in the upper right of window below to see full-screen).

Other parts of the report:

Appendix A (Applicants) – Tables : (39 KB) AppendixA.pdf
Appendix B – (Active Component) Tables: (220 KB) AppendixB.pdf
Appendix C – (Reserve Component) Tables: (155 KB) AppendixC.pdf
Appendix D – (Historical Component) Tables: (90 KB) AppendixD.pdf
Appendix E – (U.S. Coast Guard) Tables: (65 KB) AppendixE.pdf

Link

DoD could open huge military tissue archive (headline not from The Onion)

Link

Announcing War 2.0, a Medill examination of social media’s role in modern warfare and military intelligence