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IAVA | October 18, 2016

Daily News Brief October 18, 2016

dnbMarines and students paint their handprints on an elementary school wall restored during Philippine Amphibious Landing Exercise 33 in Cagayan Valley, Philippines, on Oct. 10. Cpl. Allison Lotz/Marine Corps | Military Times >>

Today’s Top Stories

For the next five years, veterans will have an easier time seeking benefits for illnesses linked to service in the Gulf War because of an extension issued Monday by the Department of Veterans Affairs. | Stars and Stripes >>

Now, Stanford Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System have announced a collaboration to establish the nation’s first center to deliver hadron therapy to cancer patients. Hadron therapy — which relies on beams of charged particles like protons, carbon, helium and other ions — is expected to increase cancer cure rates because it can treat multiple tumors or those resistant to conventional radiotherapy, while also limiting adverse side effects. | Stanford Medicine News >>

According to ptsdusa.org, one in three returning troops are diagnosed with serious post-traumatic stress symptoms. A study from the National Comorbidity Survey showed that PTSD was significantly associated with suicidal ideation or attempt. | Military.com >>

Iraq and Afghanistan

Behnam Abboush won’t feel any safer if Iraqi forces drive Islamic State out of their stronghold of Mosul. That’s why he and 300 other Assyrian Christians in the paramilitary force under his command are taking matters into their own hands. | Reuters >>

Kurdish and Iraqi forces captured 17 villages around Mosul on Monday, Iraq’s military said, but Islamic State slowed their advance with heavy mortar fire that signaled a potentially fierce battle for the militant group’s last major stronghold in Iraq. | Wall Street Journal >>

Afghan Vice-President Abdul Rashim Dostum escaped unhurt from an ambush by Taliban insurgents as his convoy returned from overseeing fighting at a northern battlefield, Afghan officials said on Monday. | Reuters >>

Military Affairs

AIM is designed to collect in one database information on soldiers’ job preferences, background, skills and expertise, everything from foreign language proficiency to civilian-acquired skills, Shoffner said. The pilot is a precursor to the Integrated Pay and Personnel System-Army, or IPPSA, which will for the first time allow the Army to look at soldiers and their talents and abilities across all three Army components. | Army Times >>

September was supposed to be a triumphant month for the Zumwalt, the U.S. Navy’s high-tech new destroyer. The 600-foot-long, missile-armed stealth warship—its hull and superstructure sharply sloped to help it avoid radar-detection—was in Norfolk, Virginia, undergoing last-minute tests before its planned official commissioning on Oct. 15. | The Daily Beast >>

Maj. Gen. Niel Nelson, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Europe & Africa declined to discuss how many Marines would head to Norway or how long the rotations would last, adding that the Norwegian government must approve the idea before plans could be released. | Marine Corps Times >>

#VetsRising

It’s a relatively new and unique golf championship, and this is its first year to take place on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The second annual Veteran Golfers Association (VGA) Championship teed off at Fallen Oak Golf Club Monday morning. | WDAM >>

Veterans are using horses to treat mental illness and emotional trauma across the nation and now, Valor Equine Therapy Services wants to bring the therapy to Northwest Montana — but they need some help. | KPAX >>

“We’re appreciative of the NCAA initially awarding Isaiah with the ability to receive athletics financial assistance in addition to eligibility for practice,” Oakland athletic director Jeff Konya said in a statement. “And we are even more thankful that the reconsideration has resulted in this decision for Isaiah.” | ESPN >>

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