Blog Post

IAVA Daily News Brief 10.11.12
Posted by Jacob Worrell on October 11 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) Vice Presidential Debate Tonight

Martha Raddatz, senior foreign affairs correspondent for ABC, will moderate the Vice Presidential Debate tonight between Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Paul Ryan. The Huffington Post reports Raddatz has traveled to Iraq more than 20 times and made dozens of trips to Afghanistan and Pakistan. For a guide on veterans’ issues during the debate, check out IAVA’s Voter Guide.

2) Combat Veterans with PTSD, Anger Issues More Likely To Commit Crimes: New Report

Huffington Post's David Wood reports that according to a new study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who struggle with the anger and emotional outbursts of combat trauma are more than twice as likely as other veterans to be arrested for criminal misbehavior. The researchers found that about 23 percent of those with PTSD and high irritability had been arrested for a criminal offense. The new study echoes the need of mental health services for returning veterans.

3) Employers on a Crusade to Hire Post 9/11 Veterans

AOL reports that JPMorgan and hundreds of employers across the nation are fighting veteran unemployment with hiring goals. Also leading the way is the Department of Labor with America’s Heroes at Work and the White House’s Joining Forces Initiative. As of June, 18,429 veterans have received jobs. "You are seeing a new attitude of 'what can we do?' in the corporate world," says Libby O'Connell, the chief historian at The History Channel, and a frequent commentator on veterans matters. "Previously it was only companies with strong military ties like Lockheed Martin that helped veterans. Now it's companies that aren't as involved that want to take an active stance."

AFGHANISTAN

• As part of the 2014 withdrawal, the U.S. military is phasing out a program that dispensed development aid and advised local officials throughout Afghanistan.
• The International Crisis Groups’s report “Afghanistan: the Long, Hard Road to the 2014 Transition,” outlined several chains of events that could lead to disarray and civil war. The report provoked several Afghan lawmakers to denounce the report as well as Western research organizations and news media.
• American filmmaker Sam French’s “Buzkashi Boys,” an award-winning tale about the sport “buzkhasi” in Afghanistan, is now getting Oscar buzz. 

IRAQ

• A jury of six men and six women will decide whether Kellogg, Brown and Root, also known as KBR, is culpable for 12 Oregon National Guardsmen's exposure to sodium dichromate in Iraq, a known carcinogen, and whether that exposure led to their ongoing respiratory illnesses.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

• The Air Force has temporarily frozen aircraft moves, and it is not clear yet how thousands of airmen will be affected — or for how long. The Air Force was unable to provide information on how many airmen, aircraft and units are affected by the freeze.
• U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the United States sent troops to Jordan to bolster that country's military capabilities in the event that violence escalates along its border with Syria.
• Veterans for Peace and March Forward pegged their Our Lives, Our Rights campaign to the upcoming deployment of Lewis-McChord’s 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division to  to connect soldiers with information about how to become conscientious objectors.

THE NEW GREATEST GENERATION

• U.S. Army soldiers of the 210th Fires Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division based out of Camp Casey in South Korea dance to “Gangam Style” in a Youtube Video.
• Sgt. Crank, an improvised explosive device detector dog assigned to 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, is at Combat Outpost Taghaz, Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Remarkably, Crank -- five years old -- is on his fifth combat deployment, each about seven months long.
• Tension is surmounting over role of service dogs for vets, where small nonprofits are attempting to help fill a crucial void for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
• Ms. Veteran America showcased the beauty of military women beyond the confines of their uniforms.
• Here are 5 important resources veterans can use to navigate them through entrepreneurship.
• Check out a representation of the publicly available information on the deployment status of the Army’s Brigade Combat Teams.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

• Marine Gen. John Allen was nominated by President Obama to be the next supreme allied commander Europe and commander of U.S. European Command. Allen now serves as commander of U.S. Forces and NATO International Security Assistances Forces in Afghanistan. President Obama also nominated Marine Corps Assistant Commandant Gen. Joseph Dunford to succeed Allen in Afghanistan.
• Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will stop citing his meeting with a former Navy Seal killed in last month’s terror attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya after the victim’s mother protested his use of her son’s death.
• Check out the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Community Provider Toolkit.

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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