Blog post

IAVA Daily Brief 7.16.10
Posted by Blake Henderson on July 16

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA.  Prefer to receive real-time updates about major stories and legislation that IAVA is tracking?  Follow us on Twitter @IAVAPressRoom or subscribe at www.IAVA.org/DailyNewsBrief.

MUST READS

1) June's Record Number of Army Suicides
 
June was the worst month ever for Army suicides, according to figures that include suicides among active duty soldiers as well as Guardsmen and Reservists.  There were 21 active duty Army suicides in the month of June and 11 on the Guard and Reserve side, totaling 32 for the month. Click here to read IAVA's analysis.
 
2) Opinion Piece: BP: Stop Hurting National Security, Start Paying for National Guard GI Bill Benefits
 
IAVA Executive Director and Founder Paul Rieckhoff wrote an opinion piece discussing the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and how it is adversely affecting National Guardsmen's education opportunities. Click here to sign the petition to help ensure that troops responding to the Gulf oil spill crisis get the GI Bill benefits they have earned.
 
3) Gates: $33B Needed ASAP to Keep Military Afloat
 
Warning that the military could run out of money as early as next month, the Pentagon is putting pressure on Congress to pass the wartime budget before lawmakers leave for the August break.  The Pentagon is seeking another $33 billion to cover ongoing wartime operations, which will also help pay for President Barack Obama's plan to send another 30,000 troops into Afghanistan.
 
4) Hundreds of Afghanistan contractor deaths go unreported
 
In one of the least examined aspects of President Obama's escalation of the Afghan war, armed private security contractors are being killed in action by the hundreds.  Between June 2009 and April 2010, 260 private security contractors working for the Pentagon made the ultimate sacrifice, while over the same period, 324 U.S. troops were killed. In analyzing the numbers, a private security contractor "working for DOD in Afghanistan is 4.5 times more likely to be killed than uniformed personnel."
 
AFGHANISTAN

• Capt. Dan Luckett of the Army's 101st Airborne Division is assigned to one of the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan where Taliban attacks are common. He goes on patrols, lifts weights in his spare time and is second in command of his company.  He is also a double amputee, after injuries he received in combat in Iraq in 2008.
• Two of the Senate's leading foreign policy experts expressed doubts about the course of the war in Afghanistan, further complicating the Obama administration's effort to maintain support for the conflict.
• Tribal leaders and warlords are stepping up to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan.  Some of these men have garnered reputations in Kandahar Province that make them even more frightening than the Taliban, making them both part of the problem and the solution.

IRAQ

• The U.S. handed over Camp Cropper, the last detention facility under its control, to Iraqi authorities, a milestone in Iraq's push for complete sovereignty seven years after the topple of the former regime.
• A car bomb exploded near an ice cream shop in northern Iraq, killing nine people, in a wealthy area of Tikrit, the hometown of the former dictator Saddam Hussein.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

• A USERRA case involving a reservist who claims he was fired because of his military service will go before the Supreme Court. Army Reserve Sgt. Vincent Staub sued his former employer in 2004 after being fired from his job.  Staub won in district court in Illinois but had the verdict overturned by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2009.
• The Army is re-vamping its basic training to better prepare soldiers for war in the 21st century.  The new course has a focus on technology and an emphasis on values such as integrity and loyalty.  The fitness aspect of basic training is also being altered, since more soldiers are arriving overweight than in years past.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

• A new bill in the Senate, The Military Spouses Job Continuity Act, would give military spouses a federal tax credit of up to $500 when they have to pay to renew or transfer a professional license when moving with their military members on official reassignment orders.
• Servicemembers would have more flexibility to share Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits with their children under a recently introduced House bill.  HR 5737 would remove a restriction that benefits must be transferred before the child is age 23. It would not change a restriction under which children may use transferred benefits only until age 26.

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.