Blog Post

IAVA Daily News Brief 06.14.12
Posted by Gretchen Andersen on June 14 2012

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings that IAVA is tracking. Prefer to receive real-time updates about major stories and legislation that IAVA is tracking? Follow us on Twitter @IAVAPressRoom and click here to get the News Brief delivered to your inbox every morning. 

MUST READS

1) Suicides Eclipse Car Crashes as Top Non-Combat Cause of U.S. Troop Deaths

In each of the past two years, more troops have died from suicide than in motor-vehicle accidents, according to the May publication of the Pentagon’s Medical Surveillance Monthly Report. Suicides accounted for one of every four non-combat military deaths from 2008 to 2011.

2) VA: Burn-pit registry would not be effective

Veterans Affairs Department officials are opposing legislation because they don’t see the value of creating a registry of service members who may have been exposed to toxic fumes of open burn pits in Iraq or Afghanistan. Curtis Coy, VA’s deputy undersecretary for economic opportunity, said the VA believes “the most effective way” to determine adverse health effects of burn-pit exposure is to conduct a “comprehensive, prospective study of long-term adverse health effects” among the entire population of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

3) NFL, military partner to discuss brain injuries

The NFL has partnered with the U.S. Army and Marines to try to change attitudes of both athletes and troops toward brain injuries. Both military and NFL say this is the first formal undertaking aimed at effecting change on this issue. The two sides are in the early stages of plotting an awareness campaign that will target current players, active military personnel and future generations of athletes and servicemen.

AFGHANISTAN 

• After more than a decade, the war in Afghanistan has surpassed 3,900 days and taken 2,000 American lives. But the number of families and friends affected by those losses are impossible to count.  
• In a one-day conference, 15 neighboring countries around Afghanistan met in Kabul today to discuss regional problems such as terrorism, extremism, drug-trafficking, and poor coordination on economic issues.

IRAQ 

• A recent Gallup poll found that Iraqis had the most stress out of 148 countries.
• Despite the wave of reports that the Obama Administration’s pick for U.S. ambassador to Iraq had an affair with a Wall Street Journal reporter, the president will stick by his nomination.

MILITARY AFFAIRS 

• Happy 237th birthday to the U.S. Army!
• Weapons designers are developing a “self-aiming bullet.”
• In a $1.3 billion program, the Army is privatizing nearly all of its 17,000 hotel rooms across the country, and outside companies are renovating, building and operating them.
• Col. James H. Johnson III was found guilty Wednesday on two charges of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.
• Air Force investigators believe a specialized flight suit -- “Combat Edge” -- could be partially responsible for some pilots experiencing a lack of oxygen while flying the F-22 fighter jet, according to a report by Air Force investigators. 

THE NEW GREATEST GENERATION 

• Two Afghanistan Marine Corps veterans are hiking the Appalachian Trail to raise money for wounded veterans.
• In a Wall Street Journal opinion piece, Stephen Kilcullen argues that women should not be allowed in Ranger school. Read a rebuttal against the piece here.
• In a nationwide survey, researchers found that civilians have a great deal of respect and admiration for those whose served in the military, but also confusion over their backgrounds and long-term health prospects. 

INSIDE WASHINGTON 

• Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., said student veterans in North Carolina are reporting six to eight-week delays in receiving benefits for the school term that began in May.
• Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, implored Congress Wednesday to avoid automatic defense cuts.
• Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said no unauthorized information was provided to filmmakers producing a movie on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
• On Wednesday, Sen. Jim Webb, author of the landmark Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, called for quick enactment of his bipartisan legislation -- Military and Veterans Educational Reform Act of 2012 --  to preserve those veterans’ education benefits from abuses by certain schools. 

A wide-range of views, positions, and publications are represented in these articles. These views, positions and publications are not endorsed by nor do they necessarily represent the views of IAVA.

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