Report: Growing mental health problems in military

Mental problems send more men in the U.S. military to the hospital than any other cause, according to a new Pentagon report. And they are the second highest reason for hospitalization of women military personnel, behind conditions related to pregnancy. The Defense Department’s Medical Surveillance report from November examines “a large, widespread, and growing mental [...]

Rep. Lewis passed over for powerful chairmanship

Republicans passed over  Rep. Jerry Lewis in favor of a veteran Kentucky lawmaker Wednesday to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee. The party’s steering committee rejected Lewis’s request to waive term limits that bar him from reclaiming the post he held when Republicans last held the majority. The decision deprives Lewis of a position that [...]

Protest at White House: No New Korean War!

Washington, November 27 (RHC)– Protesters gathered Saturday in front of the White House in Washington to call for an end to the provocations against the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The emergency anti-war rally was called in response to the latest escalation of hostilities in the Korean Peninsula. Organizers of the anti-war protest said the [...]

Child porn cases appear to dominate the caseload handled by the various military appellate courts

This is strictly an unscientific sampling, but Suits & Sentences has observed in regular checks of military appellate court opinions that, more often than not, the underlying charges involve child porn. Maybe this reflects a serious child porn problem in the military. Maybe it reflects underlying potential vulnerabilities in child porn prosecutions. Maybe the cases [...]

Another soldier pig kills wife, self

NORFOLK, Va. — Norfolk police said a former naval officer killed his wife and then himself two days before the final hearing on the couple’s divorce. Police found the bodies of 63-year-old Robert Klosterman and his 57-year-old wife Rebecca Klosterman inside the couple’s home Sunday. Police said Monday that Klosterman shot his wife and then [...]

18 veterans commit suicide each day

Troubling new data show there are an average of 950 suicide attempts each month by veterans who are receiving some type of treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Seven percent of the attempts are successful, and 11 percent of those who don’t succeed on the first attempt try again within nine months. The numbers, [...]

Court case reveals diocese pattern of sending problem priests to desert

BARSTOW • As the sex abuse scandals that plague the Catholic Church continue to make headlines, a recent lawsuit has brought new information to light regarding the San Diego Diocese’s placement of priests with a history of sexual abuse in desert parishes, including St. Joseph Catholic Church in Barstow. One man involved in the lawsuit, [...]

Thousands protest in Tokyo against U.S. military presence in Japan

Thousands of protesters from across Japan marched today in Tokyo to protest against U.S. military presence on Okinawa, while a Cabinet minister said she would fight to get rid of a marine base Washington considers crucial. Some 47,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan, with more than half on the southern island of Okinawa. Residents [...]

Court upholds murder conviction of corpsman

ATLANTA — Georgia’s top court has upheld a murder conviction and life prison sentence given to a Navy corpsman who served two tours in Iraq. The Supreme Court of Georgia on Monday affirmed the conviction of Robert Bella Devega III, who was convicted of the March 2007 killing of Saifullah Afzal. Prosecutors say officers located [...]

Weapons station CO fired, charged with solicitation

The commanding officer of Naval Weapons Station Charleston, S.C., was arrested Tuesday and accused of trying to pay a prostitute $20 for oral sex, police said. Capt. Glen Little, 55, was immediately relieved of command and reassigned to administrative duties with Navy Region Southeast, said Scott Bassett, a spokesman for the Navy base. Little, who [...]

Recruitment ad: About 66,000 gays are in military

Download the full research brief About 66,000 gay men and women are serving in the military, making up 2.2 percent of the total force, according to a new study by demographer Gary Gates. The number of gay, lesbian and bisexual service members represents a slight increase from the author’s 2004 estimates. At the time, Gates [...]

Psychiatric disorders spiral among US troops

A new study indicates US troops who were withdrawn from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for medical reasons were increasingly evacuated for psychiatric reasons. Psychiatric disorders rose from 2004 to 2007, despite an increased focus on treating mental health problems, the research study revealed on Friday. Only 14 percent of troops taken out of combat [...]

CO of Naval Supply Corps School fired

The commanding officer of the Navy Supply Corps School in Athens, Georgia was fired Friday, Navy officials said. Capt. John Titus Jr., 45, was relieved of command by the head of Navy Education and Training Command, Rear Adm. Joseph F. Kilkenny, because of a “lack of confidence in his ability to lead,” said Ed Barker, [...]

Sub sailor accused of strangling children

A sailor from the attack submarine USS Pittsburgh (SSN-720) was arrested in Connecticut on New Year’s Eve and accused of strangling and assaulting two children, police said. Electronics Technician 2nd Class (SS) Charles Youngberg, 24, was charged with third-degree assault, strangulation, disorderly conduct, reckless endangerment and two counts of risk of injury to a minor, according [...]

Iraqis outraged as Blackwater case thrown out

In this Oct. 2007 image, Mohammed Hafiz holds a picture of his 10-year-old son, Ali Mohammed, who was killed when guards employed by Blackwater allegedly opened fire at Nisoor Square in Baghdad. Iraqis responded with bitterness and outrage Jan. 1 at aU.S. judge’s decision to throw out a case against Blackwater guards accused in the [...]

Threatening troops may become a felony in SC

CHARLESTON, S.C. — A South Carolina lawmaker plans to introduce a bill that would make it a felony to threaten violence against military members or their families because they are serving their country. The Post and Courier of Charleston reports the proposal would make the threats a felony with up to 10 years in prison [...]

Troops admit to abusing prescription drugs

About one in four soldiers admit to abusing prescription drugs, most of them pain relievers, in a one-year period, according to a Pentagon health survey released Wednesday. The study, which surveyed more than 28,500 U.S. troops last year, showed that about 20 percent of Marines had also abused prescription drugs, mostly painkillers, in that same [...]

Another high-speed chase – will this help them learn?

PHOENIX —  An Arizona law officer was struck and killed by another officer’s patrol car while he was laying down spike strips to stop a vehicle during a high-speed freeway chase, authorities said Friday. The officer, Chris Marano, 28, of the Phoenix suburb of Surprise, was a father of four who worked for the Arizona Department [...]

63rd District: You need to know Paul Chabot

Paul Chabot,  who is running for California’s 63rd State Assembly District, recently participated in a debate over drug legalization, which included former judge James “Jim” P. Gray of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and Ethan Nadelmann of the Drug Policy Alliance. Chabot was damaged in childhood by incompetent parenting and by the war on drugs. While [...]

Court rejects rule making sailors report DUI Arrests

The Navy’s rule forcing sailors to “promptly” tell their commanding officers if they have been arrested for an off-base drunken-driving violation is unconstitutional, the Navy and Marine Corps’s highest military judges have ruled. The requirement, which dates back to 1999, forces sailors to incriminate themselves, a violation of the Fifth Amendment “for which no exemption [...]

The Department of Gomer Pyle

I was an average high school student. I had to attend summer school between my junior and senior years just to graduate with my class and even then, on graduation night, I wasn’t sure there’d be a diploma waiting for me. I was always more interested in playing ball and chasing girls. I was more [...]

Bahrain Commanding Officer Relieved

NAPLES, Italy – The commanding officer of Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain was relieved of command due to loss of confidence. Rear Adm. David J. Mercer, commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia, relieved the commanding officer of NSA Bahrain, Capt. John Schoeneck, due to a loss of confidence in Schoeneck’s ability to command. Capt. [...]

Japan finds proof of 1960 secret deals with US

A state-commissioned research panel in Japan finds evidence of Tokyo‘s 1960 secret pacts with Washington which allow the US to ship nuclear weaponry via the Japanese territory. On Friday, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada was notified of the discovery by the 15-member team, which found the files while examining ministry documents. “The probe is now in [...]

Psychiatrist warning of violence danger among returned Marines fired

UPDATED AND EXPANDED: In the wake of the Fort Hood tragedy, there have been media reports that mental health staff had been concerned about Major Nidal Malik “AbduWali” Hasan, but did not report their concerns to higher authorities. Rather, these staff hoped he would disappear, into Fort Hood and then Afghanistan. The press and pundits [...]

US navy crash blamed on ‘catastrophic’ leadership

A collision between a nuclear-powered US Navy submarine and a US warship in the Strait of Hormuz was caused by “catastrophic failure” in management, a US Navy report says. US Navy investigators found that “ineffective and negligent” management and the failure of navigation practices were to blame for a March 2009 collision between the USS [...]

Judge: Retrial possible for pardoned Virginia sailor

RICHMOND, Va. — A federal judge says prosecutors can retry an ex-sailor who received a conditional pardon from Virginia’s governor after spending more than a decade in prison for rape and murder. Derek Tice was one of four ex-sailors known as “The Norfolk Four” who claimed their confessions to the rape and murder of 18-year-old [...]

Navy chief gets 18 months for lying about fraud

A Navy chief was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Tuesday for lying about his role in a credit card fraud scheme. Chief Storekeeper Antonio Allen, 36, of Memphis, Tenn., pleaded guilty in April to making false statements about the wrongful use of government-issued credit cards used to steal more than $350,000 worth of [...]

McDonald’s In Guantanamo Bay

Did you know there’s a McDonald’s In Guantanamo Bay? It’s true. They’re currently hiring for the position of assistant manager. Notice how the listing avoids referring to Guantanamo by name, instead calling it “the United States Naval base in Cuba.” Apparently, no special security clearance is need for the job, just a desire to “Enjoy [...]

America Owned by Its Army

Paris, November 3, 2009 – It is possible that the creation of an all-professional American army was the most dangerous decision ever taken by Congress. The nation now confronts a political crisis in which the issue has become an undeclared contest between Pentagon power and that of a newly elected president. Barack Obama has yet [...]

Community Groups vs. Military Recruiters

Military recruiters today have unprecedented access to students and other young people, particularly in poor neighborhoods. There are generally more Army recruiters at high schools than there are college counselors, says Elmer Roldan, fundraising director at Community Coalition of South Central Los Angeles, and there is “a more aggressive strategy to militarize them than to [...]

Military Children in Crisis

A seven-year-old second-grader attempted suicide while his father was serving yet another tour in Iraq. Seven years old. Seven. His mother was one of half a dozen military spouses I have spoken with about soldiers’ kids who have attempted suicide during their fathers’ deployments. When I was seven, it was 1972, and there were 69,000 [...]

Military Recruiters: Criminal, Abusive or Suspect Activity

Eight-year Chronological Review of Public Reports as of August 28, 2009 Compiled by Learning Not Recruiting – Toledo, Ohio Click here for report

Invention Secrecy at Highest in a Decade

The total number of invention secrecy orders that the U.S. government imposed on patent applications rose again this year, reaching 5,081 by the end of last month, the highest figure since 1996. Under the Invention Secrecy Act of 1951, U.S. government agencies may restrict the disclosure of a patent application whenever its publication is deemed [...]

Military Drug Abuse: It Can’t Function Without It

(MOLALLA, Ore.) – The Oregonian reported this on Sept. 7, 2009. This should surprise nobody. Recruits historically are TRAINED to use alcohol and tobacco from their first weeks in boot camp, at least in the Army. If it wasn’t for the beer tranquilizer in the PX the rookies probably couldn’t survive psychologically the crap which [...]

Troops reportedly popping more painkillers

WASHINGTON — Narcotic pain-relief prescriptions for injured U.S. troops have jumped from 30,000 a month to 50,000 since the Iraq war began, raising concerns about the drugs’ potential abuse and addiction, says a leading Army pain expert. The sharp rise in outpatient prescriptions paid for by the government suggests doctors rely too heavily on narcotics, [...]

Preschoolers with parent at war are more aggressive, study finds

CHICAGO — Preschoolers with a parent away at war were more likely to show aggression than other young children in military families, according to the first published research on how the very young react to wartime deployment. Hitting, biting and hyperactivity — “the behaviors parents really notice” — were more frequent when a parent was [...]

Corpsman pleads guilty to role in deadly game

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A Navy corpsman pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges he pointed a loaded gun at a Marine in his unit while playing a dangerous game called “Trust.” Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Spencer Hamer, 23, was sitting in the back of a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle in Iraq in November 2008 when [...]

Retiree pleads guilty in videotaping of girls

A retired Navy supply officer who was featured on the “America’s Most Wanted” Web site for hiding a video camera in his step-daughters’ bathroom was sentenced Aug. 18 to a year in jail, a prosecutor said. Retired Lt. Cmdr. Robert Thomas Franks, 49, pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree violation of personal privacy and [...]

C.I.A. Sought Blackwater’s Help to Kill Jihadists

WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency in 2004 hired outside contractors from the private security contractor Blackwater USA as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda, according to current and former government officials. Executives from Blackwater, which has generated controversy because of its aggressive tactics in Iraq, helped [...]

Suicide soars among US soldiers

As the US government throws its weight about the globe, hundreds of thousands of men, women and children fall before Uncle Sam’s swinging scythe. But, those at the cutting edge of the scythe are falling too, often by their own hands, in the inescapable confines of their homes or quarters in the barracks back on [...]

Ex-Greeneville sailors charged with assault

Two former crew members of the attack submarine USS Greeneville were indicted Monday in the beating of a former town councilman from Maine, a court official said. Yeoman Seaman (SU) Gerald Smith, 22, and Storekeeper Seaman (SU) Sandy Portobanco, 23, were charged with two counts of assault in the May 22 beating of Stephen Huntress, [...]

Sailor gets murder charge in gay sailor death

SAN DIEGO — A sailor assigned to Assault Craft Unit 5, who Navy officials say intended to burn and damage equipment at his Camp Pendleton unit, is facing murder charges in the June 30 fatal shooting of a fellow sailor. On Thursday, the Navy charged Gas Turbine System Technician (Mechanical) 2nd Class (SW) Jonathan Campos, [...]

Sailors escorted from country after fisticuffs

Two sailors traveling with Vice President Joe Biden’s advance team got into a scuffle with a foreign official in the former Soviet republic of Georgia on Tuesday and were removed from the country under military escort, a Navy spokesman said. The two sailors have been reassigned while the incident is under investigation by the Naval [...]

Navy recruiter admits role in sex sting

A 32-year-old Navy recruiter from Kansas has pleaded guilty to attempted human trafficking for trying to arrange a sexual encounter with what he thought was an 11-year-old girl. Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class (SW/AW) Shane Allan Childers of Olathe entered the plea Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo. He faces 15 years to [...]

From recruiting to rape

Anti-war advocates aren’t surprised by shocking abuse charges LOS ANGELES (FinalCall.com) - Prosecutors have set a $1 million bail for a U.S. Marine charged with pimping, kidnapping, and intending to rape a 14-year-old girl. Reports indicate that Staff Sgt. Bryan Damone Cunningham, of San Pedro, California was previously honored three times for good conduct. Military watch groups [...]

1 in 8 combat troops needs alcohol counseling

One in eight troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan from 2006 to 2008 were referred for counseling for alcohol problems after their post-deployment health assessments, according to data from the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center. Service members complete their initial health assessments within 30 days of returning home. The authors of the study, published in [...]

Navy Chaplain Found Guilty of Rape

NORFOLK — A Navy chaplain who served aboard the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was found guilty Monday of raping a young enlisted woman. Lt. Shane Dillman, a Pentecostal chaplain who previously earned honors for his work, faces up to life in prison on that charge. He also was convicted of fraternization but was found not [...]

2 submariners charged with assault in NH

Two sailors assigned to the attack submarine USS Greeneville were arrested and charged with severely beating a man in Portsmouth, N.H., local authorities said. The two sailors were driving a government van near the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard shortly before midnight May 22 when they stopped and beat up the 48-year-old man, said Ken Durand, a [...]

Navy unveils ‘Bravo Zulu’ to target younger recruits

The Naval Academy yesterday debuted its newest recruiting tool __ a graphic novel called “Bravo Zulu,” which is Navy-speak for “Well Done.” The 16-page, comic book-style publication is designed to get middle school and early high school students interested in attending the academy. The short novel tells the story of five plebes who have become [...]

New Report on Energy and U.S. National Security

Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security “To better inform U.S. policymakers and the public about the impact of America’s energy choices on national security policies, CNA, a nonprofit research organization that runs the Center for Naval Analyses and the Institute for Public Research, convened a panel of retired senior military officers [...]