Blog Post

IAVA Daily News Brief 10.10.12
Posted by Jacob Worrell on October 10 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 @IAVA and click here to get the News Brief delivered to your inbox every morning.

MUST READS

1) Obama, Romney: Ignore Afghanistan war at your own peril

As American voters prepare to choose between Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney, Afghans fear that each candidate’s silence on the war in Afghanistan means the war has been relegated further down in U.S. foreign policy priorities. Mujib Mashal explores the possible negative ramifications of campaign silence on Afghan civilians and the military mission itself.

2) How Social Innovation is Helping Homeless Veterans

Creative approaches that businesses use to develop new products can also be channeled toward solving long-standing and intractable social issues. A case in point is the recent effort to house chronically homeless veterans in the U.S., as thousands of soldiers return to civilian life after extended tours overseas.

3) Battling Bare: Military Wives Stripping Down to Battle PTSD

Military wives across the country are stripping down for their soldier husbands to draw attention to what they see as the rampant problem of post traumatic stress disorder. They say they want to create awareness of the anxiety syndrome and help soldiers and families get support.

AFGHANISTAN

• The international community will continue supporting Afghanistan after U.S. and NATO combat forces leave the war-wracked nation by the end of 2014, a top U.N. envoy said Tuesday.
• Three of the Army’s highest-ranking soldiers have gone to remote outposts in one of Afghanistan’s most dangerous districts in the last month to connect with soldiers and answer their tough questions about the rising number of insider attacks. 

IRAQ

• Al-Qaeda is rebuilding in Iraq and has set up training camps for insurgents in the nation's western deserts as the extremist group seizes on regional instability and government security failures to regain strength, officials say.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

• The Nebraska Department of Labor has created a video which highlights the opportunities for veterans and their families in Nebraska, encouraging and welcoming veterans to apply.
• The United States military has secretly sent a task force to Jordan to help the armed forces there handle a flood of Syrian refugees and be positioned should the turmoil in Syria expand into a wider conflict.

THE NEW GREATEST GENERATION

• The latest entry in a blog written by two brothers, On Violence discusses the kind of impact the U.S. military has had in Iraq in terms of branding itself against its competition.
• When Marland Lawrence entered the fire academy after coming home from the Navy, he was surprised to find out he was not the only veteran in his class. Almost everyone else had also just left the military.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

• Mitt Romney told a crowd of supporters on Tuesday that he and his wife had shown up at the wrong Christmas party several years ago while staying at their home in San Diego. One young man he met at that party was Glen Doherty, former SEAL and one of the four Americans killed in Benghazi on Sept.11, along with U.S. ambassador to Libya, J. Christopher Stevens.
• If you need an example of why it is hard to cut the budget in Washington look no further than this Army depot in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada range.

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.

  Share:
 del.icio.us  digg  reddit  facebook  newsvine myspace twitter