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The U.S. Army has established a toll-free
Family Assistance Hotline for Operation Iraqi Freedom at (800)
833-6622 |
The Pentagon's Achilles Heel
by Steven Rosenfeld
 United
Press International's Mark Benjamin—assisted by Steven Robinson of the National
Gulf War Resource Center, a veteran's advocacy group—broke the story that
hundreds of injured Iraq War vets were stranded in dismal barracks at Ft.
Stewart Ga."They're being treated like dogs," is how
one officer put it.
The situation described by this
officer and by UPI was one where injured National Guard and Army Reserve
soldiers were languishing while waiting for military doctors to fully diagnose
their injuries and do the paperwork for future medical benefits. The
veterans—some with injuries that will become lifelong disabilities—were living
in large barracks with double bunk beds and no indoor plumbing.
"I've been in [the military] for 30
½ years and never thought the Army would turn on its own like this," said First
Sgt. Gerry Mosley, of the National Guard's 296th Transportation Company from
Brookhaven, Miss. "I am not in a case by myself. They are telling you it's going
to be four to six months if you're going through a medical
evaluation."
Full Story
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Army
hunts cause of pneumonia in troops
The U.S. Army said Monday it has activated two medical teams to help
investigators determine what has caused about 100 cases of pneumonia -- two of
them fatal -- among service members in the Persian Gulf since March 1.
Army Sends Teams to Probe Iraq Illness
A six-person team of specialists
was en route to Iraq Friday to investigate 14 cases of pneumonia serious enough
that the soldiers had to be put on ventilators to breathe and
evacuated.
The team on its way to Iraq includes infectious disease
experts, laboratory officers and people who will take samples of soil, water and
air.
A two-person team already has gone to Landstuhl Regional Medical
Center in Germany, where most of the cases were treated after evacuation. The
two teams also will review patient records and laboratory results and conduct
interviews
The teams will be looking for similarities among the cases,
which so far have hit troops in geographically dispersed areas and from
different units, said the Thursday statement. They also were spread over time,
with two in March, three in April, two in May, three in June and four in
July.
Though only 14 cases were considered serious, there have been 100
cases altogether since March 1.
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The US army
has sent a team of experts to Iraq to investigate a pneumonia outbreak among its
troops, which has so far left two dead.
There have been more than 100 cases
among US troops in the Iraq region since the beginning of March, including
15 serious enough to warrant medical evacuation to get the patients
ventilators to assist their breathing
Of these 15,
two soldiers died, 10 troops
recovered and three remain hospitalised.
"We have no evidence to
indicate that there are chemical or biological weapons or environmental toxins
involved "
Lyn Kukral, army
spokeswoman
Sick veteran battles
bureaucracy
|
Environment News Service
(ENS)
Washington, DC, June 6, 2003
More than 250,000
soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who served in the Iraq war will undergo
health
screenings within 30 days of their return home, the Pentagon announced.
The
screenings are in line with a 2000 National Academies of Science report
commissioned by the DOD.
"Protecting Those Who Serve:
Strategies to Protect the Health of Deployed U.S. Forces" recommends that the
federal government improve procedures for recording military health problems,
better document troop locations during deployments and communicate more
thoroughly with commanders about environmental and medical hazards that may
exist in war zones.
The screening is designed to help
the military avoid the confusion and delays in care experienced 13 years ago by
troops returning from the first Gulf War. Since the end of the war, more than
100,000 of those veterans have reported chronic health problems such as
headaches and memory loss, fatigue, sleep disorders, and joint and muscle
problems.
Hundreds of studies have examined
possible causes of a "Gulf
War Syndrome," including stress or exposure to nerve gas, pesticides,
depleted uranium or other chemical agents. Its origin remains unknown.
The health screening includes a
blood sample and a health
questionnaire, which will be reviewed with a doctor and a mental health
counselor.
The five page questionnaire asks
troops to list any symptoms they developed during their Gulf tours, including
cough, rashes, headaches, chest pain or dizziness, whether they received any
vaccinations before or during their deployment or were exposed to pesticides,
oil fires or biological and chemical weapons and if they are having problems
with depression or stress.
Link to
Veteran's Resources
Health
Link
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USA TODAY-
8/24/2003
For the first time since the all-volunteer Army began in 1973,
significant numbers of U.S. combat soldiers may have to start serving
back-to-back overseas tours of up to a year each in places such as Iraq,
Afghanistan and South Korea.
Grappling with large, simultaneous deployments around the world, Army
planners are trying to determine how many troops will have to serve extra tours.
Planners have concluded they will have no choice but to force thousands of
troops to return to new overseas assignment after only a short time at home.
Currently, troops can deploy with their families for years to places such as
Germany or Japan, but they go to war zones or potential war zones such as Iraq
or Korea without their families and typically serve there no more than a
year.
A key concern is that the deployments will cause an exodus
of experienced, mid-career veterans such as sergeants, staff sergeants and
captains, who are harder to replace than younger soldiers.
Preliminary estimates suggest that 15% to 25% of the nearly 180,000
troops now overseas in Iraq, Korea and Afghanistan may have to do consecutive
tours. The estimate is based on the Army maintaining a force of about 130,000
troops in Iraq, about 10,000 in Afghanistan and about 40,000 in Korea for the
foreseeable future. Though the Army has some 490,000 active-duty troops, the
soldiers in Iraq, Korea and Afghanistan comprise more than 60% of its combat
forces.
If the prediction is accurate, as many as 45,000 soldiers would have to
double up. Some of the second tours would be for six months, but those in Iraq
and Korea could require a second full year during which soldiers would be
separated from their families. An officer says the Army would attempt to allow
troops rotating home to have at least three months before heading back for a
second overseas tour.
Says one high-ranking Pentagon official familiar with the math: "Looking
out three years, it is not unreasonable to expect that within a two-year period,
a guy will have to do a year and a half outside the United
States."
Deployments in the Gulf
Major U.S. troop deployments- interactive
maps
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Gulf war veterans are more likely to develop motor neurone disease,
according to US studies.
It adds to concerns that former
servicemen may have been exposed to something during the 1991 conflict which
increased their risk of illness.
The studies, published in the
journal Neurology, found that veterans of the war were three times more likely
to develop the disease.The illness leads to progressive muscle weakness and
eventually death.
Veterans in the UK and US have
reported a variety of symptoms which they blame on exposure either to vaccines
given prior to deployment, or some other environmental factor they encountered
during the campaign.
Preliminary results from one of the
latest studies had already provided enough evidence of the motor neurone link
for US authorities to classify the illness as "attributable to service" and
offer compensation.
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Deserting Our Troops
Steven Rosenfeld, September 30,
2003
The Army and Air
Force failed to obey Congress' orders to create baseline medical
records for soldiers sent to overseas war zones, in this case Iraq, Congress'
General Accounting Office (GAO) concludes in a just-released report (download
PDF here).
"The percentage of Army and Air
Force service members missing one or both of their pre- and post-deployment
health assessments ranged from 38 to 98 percent of our samples," the GAO,
Congress' investigative arm, found. "Moreover, when health assessments were
conducted, as many as 45 percent of them were not done within the required time
frames."
These statistics confirm what
veterans of the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War and members of Congress have been
saying for months: the Pentagon has been ignoring a law whose primary intention
was avoiding a repeat of the military's mistakes surrounding its handling of
veteran illnesses that have become known as Gulf War Syndrome.
After the Persian Gulf War in
1990-91, tens of thousands of veterans became sick with mysterious illnesses.
But because the Pentagon did not have baseline medical records for each soldier
in that conflict, it was very slow to acknowledge and act on its responsibility
to provide health care for these veterans.
So, in 1997, Congress passed a
Public Law 105-85 requiring the military to conduct detailed
pre- and post-deployment medical records for every soldier sent into a war zone.
The GAO says the military "did not comply" with that requirement in the Iraq
War. It also found the Department of Defense (DOD) "did not maintain a complete,
centralized database of service members' medical assessments and immunizations."
Veterans' advocates became aware
last fall and winter that troops being sent to Iraq were not being examined as
required. Instead, the military gave soldiers a short questionnaire to fill out.
After congressional hearings and public criticism from veterans last winter, the
Pentagon said it would conduct post-deployment exams and expand its
questionnaire.
The GAO report was based on
investigations at five military bases: Fort Campbell; Fort Drum; Hurlburt Field
and Travis Air Force Base. It recommended that the Secretary of Defense and
undersecretary responsible for military health "establish an effective quality
assurance program that will help ensure that the military services comply with
the force health protection and surveillance requirements for all service
members."
.
In conclusion, the GAO said the
Pentagon was poised to repeat the mistakes of the first Gulf
War, where it did not promptly or adequately address the illnesses among
veterans that became known as Gulf War Syndrome
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Department of Veterans
Affairs,
696,661 U.S. troops served
in the Gulf War between August 2, 1990 and July 31, 1991.
These are considered "Gulf War Conflict" veterans by the
VA.;
Of the 696,628, 504,047 are separated from service
and eligible for benefits through the VA.
As of December 1999, more than 263,000 sought
medical care at the VA.
Of the 504,047 eligible veterans, 40% filed claims
against the VA for service-related medical disabilities.
Of the 171,878 VA claims actually processed,
80% were approved in part (note -- Most claims are made up of
multiple issues. If any one issue
is granted VA considers it approved.)
Of the 504,047 eligible for VA benefits,
over 168,000 are now considered disabled by the VA.
As of May 2002, the (VA) reported
that an additional
8,306
(updated;9,600) soldiers had died and 159,705 were injured or ill as a result of
service-connected exposures suffered during the war.
That raises the fatality rate of
the first Iraq war to a staggering 30%.
Link to Veteran's
Resources
Response
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~Estimates
are that there will be over 700,000 more veterans in 2003 than projected.
House Budget Comm. Chairman Rep. Jim Nussle has announced more than 28
billion in cuts in mandatory Veterans Administration programs over the next
10 years. That represents over 10 billion dollars in cuts in
veteran's health care.
~90% of the Veteran
Administration spending goes for monthly payments for veterans and survivors.
The rest goes for hospitals, doctors, nurses, rehabilitation, training,
counseling, etc. 75% of the Medical Care budget is spent on these
support services.
~.The Veteran's
Administration has recently announced that it will be cutting health benefits
for 174,000 veterans who make more than 30,000 a year. Some, 15
billion from disability payments and pensions. 900 million to be cut from VA
hospitals. 659 million to be cut from the amount needed to keep pace with
veteran's benefits in the 2002 budget.
~Also, this
administration and this Congress would impose a 250% increase in the cost
of medications. The co-pay was $2, it was increased to $7 and now this
would increase the co-pay to $15 a month.
~A
majority of retired veterans make only 1,100 to 1,200 a month.
Veterans make up 30% of the nation's homeless.
~All of these damaging cuts are a national shame. Every one of our
soldiers who would give his or her life for this country enlisted with a promise
from our government that our country would take care of their health and welfare
needs, and those of their families with the same level of committment they would
give our country on the battlefield.
Link to Veteran's
Resources
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Q.Where
can I get more information on the requirements of 10 U.S.C. § 503?A.The
Office of the Secretary of Defense may be contacted for copies of the statute,
or questions relating to it:
Director, Accession Policy
4000 Defense
Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301-4000
Telephone: (703)
695-5529
Q.Where can I get more information on the requirements of
§ 9528 of the ESEA? A.The Family Policy Compliance Office (FPCO)
in the Department of Education administers FERPA as well as § 9528 of the ESEA,
as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. School officials with
questions on this guidance, or FERPA, may contact the FPCO at FERPA@ED.Gov or write to the FPCO as
follows:
Family Policy
Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue,
SW
Washington, D.C. 20202-4605
Telephone: (202) 260-3887
Fax: (202)
260-9001 www.ed.gov/offices/OII/fpco/
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Defense Dept.
Youth Attitude Tracking Survey
finds
that:
Gradual changes are
occurring in the racial/ethnic composition of the population and the educational
and career aspirations of youth.
Most youth indicate they hope to achieve at
least a Bachelor’s degree.
The number of high school graduates and the
number of youth completing some college is increasing steadily while
the
number of college graduates is hardly increasing at all.
Employment
trends for youth who have completed high school, but not completed college, have
improved.
Propensity is related to several demographic
characteristics:
· Is higher for men than women;
· Declines with age;
· Declines with
educational attainment;
·
Is higher for unemployed than
employed youth;
· Is highest for Hispanic youth,
followed by
Black youth, and
lowest for White
youth;
· Is higher for youth who are not married;
· Varies by region: higher in the South and
West and lowest
in the North
Central region.
The report concludes that: Services will have
difficulty meeting recruiting goals. In particular, it will be increasingly
difficult to meet enlistment goals without drawing either from the pool of
non-high school graduates or the pool of those who have
completed some
college
|
| National Youth & Militarism Program
|
| Law and Policy on Child
Soldiers |
| Use
of Children as Soldiers |
| Protecting
Children From War |
| Alternatives to the Military |
| Computer software which educates young people
about the realities of military enlistment |
| 10 Points to Consider Before
Signing an Enlistment Agreement |
| How do I get out of
the Delayed Enlistment Program
(DEP)? |
|
Questioning
the Military's JROTC Program
|
| End Draft
Registration |
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|
~The Military Draft Bill in
Context (April 2002)
~Working to End Draft
Registration and its Penalties
~State Penalties for
Nonregistrants - Chart
~Conscientious Objection
Resources
~What Happened to
Vietnam Draft Resisters
~Immigrants and Selective
Service Registration
~Immigration Consequences
of Resisting Military Service
|
| AFSC
Youth Program - No Child Left Unrecruited |
| AFSC
Youth Program - Military Recruitment |
| The
Center on Conscience & War (CCW) -
www.nisbco.org |
| Youthactivism - www.youthactivism.org |
United States Student Association (USSA) -
www.usstudents.org
|
• American Friends Service Committee-NH
(603)224-2407
www.nonviolence.org/wrl
War Resisters International (international
news)
Wiretap Magazine (independent
information source by and for socially conscious youth)
"Not Just a
Job" (SEAC counter-recruitment flier)
"What You Can
Do" (a two-page SEAC flier with suggestions for students, parents, and
others who want to resist enlistment efforts)
"High School
Students' Rights"-Student Environmental Action Coalition
"Making Soldiers in
the Public Schools"-SEAC
"Do You Know Enough
to Enlist" (SEAC anti-recruitment flier)
"Military Out of Our
Schools" Poster
• G.I. Rights Hotline- (800)
394-9544
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Before You
Enlist...
You
wouldn't buy a car without looking under the hood. Don't enlist before you check
out the reality of military life that lies behind the glamorous television ads
and glossy brochures
630 20th St., #302, Oakland, CA 94612
(510) 465-1617;
www.objector.org/
and 1515 Cherry St.,
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 563-8787
Every year some 350,000
people join the US military. Learn more about recruiting practices and
fraud, recruitment activities in the schools, and the
Junior Reserve Officer
Training Corps. Get advice about dealing with
recruiters.
www.afsc.org/youthmil.htm
War Resisters League's primary program
is Roots, a WRL Campaign Promoting Nonviolence, Justice and an End to the
Militarization of Youth. YouthPeace integrates work against war toys and
military recruiting with developing a culture of nonviolence, beginning with our
children.
339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012
(212) 228-0450; www.warresisters.org
The Committee Opposed to Militarism and the
Draft
What You Can
Do
High School Student Rights
Teach Peace Make Our Schools
Military-Free Zones
Project on Youth and
Non-Military Opportunities
P.O. Box 230157, Encinitas, CA 92023
(760)
634-3604; www.projectyano.org
Students Transforming And Resisting
Corporations
Students of Liberation
Waging a Non-violent Struggle for
Peace,
Justice & Democracy
email: peace@starcalliance
call:
414-915-4289
Project on Youth and Non-Military
Opportunities (Project YANO)
P.O. Box 230157, Encinitas, CA 92023 - (760)
634-3604; ProjYANO@aol.com
~Project YANO Sample Outreach
Educational Tools
Students Not Soldiers is a youth &
student campaign against military recruitment in our schools.
Contact:-Trent
Moyer at AFSC:
202-299-1050 or trent@mutualaid.org
-John Judge at the
Washington Peace Center
202-234-2000
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Access to High School
Students and Information on Students by Military Recruiters -October 9, 2002
Q.What are the recent
changes made by Congress concerning military recruitment of high school
students?
A.Congress has passed two major pieces of legislation
that generally require local educational agencies (LEAs) receiving assistance
under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA)1 to give military recruiters the same access to
secondary school students as they provide to postsecondary institutions or to
prospective employers. LEAs are also generally required to provide students'
names, addresses, and telephone listings to military recruiters, when
requested.
Q.Where are these statutory requirements
found?
A.These requirements are contained in § 9528 of the ESEA
(20 U.S.C. § 7908), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
(P.L. No. 107-110)
These requirements are also contained in 10
U.S.C. § 503, as amended by § 544 of the National Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 2002 (P.L. No. 107-107), the legislation that provides
funding for the nation's armed forces.
Q.What is the effective date for these military recruiter access
requirements?
A.While there are differences in the effective date
provisions for 10 U.S.C. § 503 and § 9528 of the ESEA, both provisions apply to
all LEAs receiving ESEA funds by not later than July 1, 2002.
Q.What are
the requirements of § 9528 of the ESEA?A.Each LEA that receives funds under the
ESEA must comply with a request by a military recruiter or an institution of
higher education for secondary students' names, addresses, and telephone
numbers, unless a parent has "opted out" of providing such information.
A.Section 9528 also requires
LEAs that receive funds under the ESEA to provide military recruiters the same
access to secondary school students as they generally provide to postsecondary
institutions or prospective employers. For example, if the school has a
policy of allowing postsecondary institutions or prospective employers to come
on school property to provide information to students about educational or
professional opportunities, it must afford the same access to military
recruiters.
Q.Under § 9528 of the
ESEA, what notification must LEAs provide to parents before disclosing names,
addresses, and telephone numbers of secondary students to military recruiters
and officials of institutions of higher education?
A.Under FERPA,
an LEA must provide notice to parents of the types of student information that
it releases publicly. This type of student information, commonly referred to as
"directory information," includes such items as names, addresses, and telephone
numbers and is information generally not considered harmful or an invasion of
privacy if disclosed. The notice must include an explanation of a parent's right
to request that the information not be disclosed without prior written consent.
Additionally, § 9528
requires that parents be notified that the school routinely discloses names,
addresses, and telephone numbers to military recruiters upon request, subject to
a parent's request not to disclose such information without written
consent. A single notice provided through a mailing, student handbook,
or other method that is reasonably calculated to inform parents of the above
information is sufficient to satisfy the parental notification requirements of
both FERPA and § 9528.
The notification must advise the parent of how
to opt out of the public, nonconsensual disclosure of directory information and
the method and timeline within which to do so.
Q.If an LEA has not provided notice relating to "directory
information," may it release a student's name, address, and telephone number
when requested by a military recruiter?
A.As noted above, an LEA may provide a single
notice regarding both directory information and information disclosed to
military recruiters. If an LEA does not disclose "directory information" under
FERPA, then it must still provide military recruiters access to secondary
students' names, addresses, and telephone listings. In addition, the LEA must notify parents that they may opt
out of this disclosure. In other words, an LEA that does not disclose "directory
information" must nonetheless provide a notice that it discloses information to
military recruiters. The notice must be reasonably calculated to inform
parents.
Q.If a parent opts out
of the public, nonconsensual disclosure of directory information (or any subset
of such information), must the three data elements be released to military
recruiters upon their request?
A.If a parent opts out of providing directory information to
third parties, the opt-out relating to name, address, or telephone number
applies to requests from military recruiters as well. For example, if the
opt-out states that telephone numbers will not be disclosed to the public,
schools may not disclose telephone numbers to military recruiters.
Q. If the school does not list one or more of the three data
elements (e.g., telephone number) among its directory information, may it
release that information to military
recruiters?
A.If a
school does not designate one or more of the three items as "directory
information" under FERPA, it still must provide all three items to military
recruiters upon request. Also, in that case, the school would have to send a
separate notice to parents about the missing "directory information" item(s),
noting an opportunity to opt out of disclosure of the information to military
recruiters. An easier method, of course, would be for the school to designate
all three items - name, address, and telephone listing - as "directory
information."
Q.How are the
requirements under § 9528 of the ESEA enforced?
A.Schools that
do not comply with § 9528 of the ESEA could jeopardize their receipt of ESEA
funds.
Q.How does § 544 of the National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2002 amend the former requirements under 10 U.S.C. §
503?A.Section 544 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002
revises Title 10, Section 503(c) in several important ways:
First, the recruiting provisions now apply only to LEAs
(including private secondary schools) that receive funds under the ESEA.
Second, these provisions now require access by military
recruiters to students, under certain conditions, and to secondary school
students' names, addresses, and telephone listings. Third, as discussed
earlier, they require LEAs to notify parents of their right to opt out of the
disclosure of their children's names, addresses, and telephone numbers and to
comply with any such requests from the parents or the
students.
Q.How are these requirements under 10 U.S.C. § 503
enforced?
A.In addition to the potential for loss of funds under
ESEA noted above for failure to comply with § 9528 of the ESEA, an LEA that
denies a military recruiter access to the requested information on students
after July 1, 2002, will be subject to specific interventions under 10 U.S.C. §
503.
In this regard, the law requires
that a senior military officer (e.g., Colonel or Navy Captain) visit the LEA
within 120 days. If the access problem is not resolved with the LEA, the
Department of Defense must notify the State Governor within 60 days. Problems
still unresolved after one year are reported to Congress if the Secretary of
Defense determines that the LEA denies recruiting access to at least two of the
armed forces (Army, Navy, Marine Corps, etc.).
The expectation is that public officials
will work with the LEA to resolve the problem.
Additionally, the Department of
Defense has developed a national high school data base to document
recruiter access. Presently, 95 percent of the nation's 22,000 secondary
schools provide a degree of access to military recruiters that is consistent
with current law.
Q.Are private
schools subject to the military recruiter requirements?
A.Private secondary schools that receive funds under the
ESEA are subject to § to 10 U.S.C. § 503. However, private schools that maintain
a religious objection to service in the Armed Forces that is verifiable through
the corporate or other organizational documents or materials of that school are
not required to comply with this
law.
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STUDENT REQUEST TO REFUSE RELEASE OF CONTACT
INFORMATION TO MILITARY
RECRUTERS
To: Your School
Superintendent
I am writing to request
that you do not make my name, address, or telephone listing available for
military recruitment purposes, as is provided under
Paragraph 2, Subsection (a) of Section 9528 of Public Law 107-110*. I look foward
to your prompt response to this
letter.
Sincerely,____________________
Name:_______________________School___________
Address:_______________________________________
City/State/Zip:__________________________________
*Public Law 107-110,
The No
Child Left Behind Act,
Provides that
either students or parents may request that information not be released to
military recruiters without written parental consent and that schools must
notify parents of the option to make such a request and must comply with any
request.
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Troops in Iraq
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Department of Veterans
Affairs
Life Insurance:
1-800-669-8477
Education (GI Bill):
1-888-442-4551
Health Care Benefits: 1-877-222-8387
Income
Verification and Means Testing: 1-800-929-8387
Mammography Helpline:
1-888-492-7844
Gulf War/Agent Orange Helpline:
1-800-749-8387
Status of Headstones and Markers:
1-800-697-6947
Telecommunications Device for the Deaf
(TDD):
1-800-829-4833
VA Benefits: 1-800-827-1000
The National Center for
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
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VFW Legislative Priority Goals
2002-2003
Ensure
needed funding is authorized and appropriated for the continuing operation and
enhancement of the entire Veterans Healthcare Administration.
Secure a
mandatory funding structure to guarantee adequate dollars as well as enhanced
planning options for VA.
Allow VA to collect and retain Medicare dollars
for the treatment of non-service connected Medicare-eligible
patients.
Acquire adequate funds for the Veterans Benefits Administration
to continue to improve the benefits claims process.
Obtain funding for
expansion and maintenance of the Veterans Cemetery Administration.
EDUCATION:
Secure authority and annual funding increases to
fully establish a GI Bill for the 21st Century that provides full tuition and
living expense stipends at any institution to which a veteran is
accepted.
MILITARY RETIREES:
Ensure Congress fully appropriates
funding to allow all disabled military retirees to receive both their military
retirement and VA compensation.
MILITARY QUALITY OF LIFE
ISSUES:
Increase active-duty Armed Forces pay to equal their private
sector counterparts.
Obtain increased funding for improving active-duty
housing and work facilities.
Acquire full funding for the Defense Health
Program (DHP) to ensure that all Active Duty, Reserve and National Guard
personnel and their dependents are provided with quality health care.
Link to Veteran's
Resources
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"Since the
Iraq conflict began, 20 GIs have taken their own lives in the theater. Military
and outside experts, alarmed by the high number, hope to find out why."
