More Veterans Receive Help With Heating Bills
The number of veteran and active military families receiving assistance to heat their homes has increased by 63% since 2008, and now make up 1 in 5 of all households served by the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
Of military families, LIHEAP says in a new report, 7% are currently serving and 93% are veterans.
Story from NYT’s AtWar | PDF of the study results
SOURCE: Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program
If you’re looking for historic data to go along with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s announcement today about increased efforts against sexual assault in the military, the best place to start is the annual reports the DOD is required to compile each year. Here is the archive, with the latest umbrella report from March, 2011 covering 2010, and the military academy summary released last month, covering the 2010-2011 academic year.
It is unclear when the full 2011 report will be posted, but Panetta announced there were 3,191 sexual assault reports in 2011, up about 1% over 2010. The actual number of assaults could be as high as 19,000, because only a fraction of cases historically are actually reported, Panetta said.
Below is an example of data included in the reports. This shows 2010 sexual assault reporting rates by service branch.
Non-citizen recruits less likely to wash out, study says
Stars and Stripes today plumbs a think-tank study and takes a look at the “washout rate” of the 70,000 non-citizens who enlisted in the U.S. military since 9/11. The nut graf? A much lower attrition rate than citizens.
Within three months of entering active service, 8.2 percent of citizen enlistees have been discharged. That is more than double the 4 percent attrition rate of non-citizens who volunteer to serve in America’s military.
At the three-year mark, 28 percent of citizens have left before completing initial service obligations while the washout rate for non-citizens remains significantly lower, at 16 percent. And the disparity widens by the four-year mark, with 32 percent of citizen recruits having been discharged versus only 18 percent of non-citizen accessions… .
Says the report; “The interviews revealed that, relative to citizen recruits, non-citizen recruits generally have a stronger attachment to serving the United States, which they now consider to be ‘their country,’ and [they] have a better work ethic.”
A majority repot from the House Committee on Homeland Security released Wednesday calls the U.S. “the most dangerous place for a G.I. outside of foreign warzone” and declares “A significant and growing number of military personnel … pose a serious danger to their brothers and sisters in arms who wear the same uniform.” Full Report
An investigation by McClatchy’s Marisa Taylor and Chris Adams finds “the military is prosecuting a growing number of rape and sexual assault allegations, including highly contested cases that would be unlikely to go to trial in civilian courts.”
The end result in “most” cases is “the accused aren’t being convicted of serious crimes… Such results are provoking cynicism within the armed forces that the politics of rape are tainting” the military justice system.
(Danger Room) “On Wednesday, the Army announced that it’s in the market for a paintball system that can detect the presence and type of different explosives. The system would work by loading up projectiles with materials that advertise the presence of explosives — sort of like a litmus test for bombs — and firing them at the suspected bombs. Picture paintballing, but with a target that might really kill you.
“It’s another foray into the field of bomb-hunting technology. Over the past few years, scientists have developed a range of weird and wonderful ways to sniff out the things that go boom, from explosives-sensitive plants to dynamite-detecting bee venom. But for maximum safety, it’s always nice to figure out if that package or object is a bomb when you’re not close enough to be blown apart by it. FULL STORY
Photo: no3rdw on Fickr.
Potentially useful new database put together by the National Resources Defense Council that brings a variety of national security data into one place.
The READ database and mapping tools are intended as a resource for those planning renewable energy projects to screen for conflicts with Department of Defense and other government activity in the area.
It includes military installations, ranges and training areas; military training routes and special use airspace; radar sites; and conservation areas. That data was gathered from “open sources and from unclassified geospacial data.”
Can journalists get access? Stay tuned. I put in a request this morning.
