Today in class a fellow student of the politically Conservative persuasion pulled me aside, knowing that until recently I served in the National Guard, and told me a shocking story. He asked if seen the news of beating in Oswego this past weekend. I told him I hadn’t. His brother goes to school in Oswego and his brother’s roommate literally had his skull cracked in a argument over the election of Barack Obama. No, really:

Assault began with argument over Obama, witness says

Oswego police are continuing their investigation of a Sunday morning melee that left a Barack Obama supporter gravely injured and a soldier who fought in Afghanistan charged with his beating.

Angel Moreno, 19, of the Bronx, was listed in critical condition at University Hospital Monday.

The soldier, Pvt. Kevin T. Flanagan, from Manchester, N.H., was being held in the Oswego County jail. He is charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor.

Investigators are interviewing witnesses to the fight and other charges and arrests could be pending, said Oswego police Capt. James Comerford.

According to police, officers arrived at the Pizza Pub restaurant, 141 W. Bridge St., at 3:02 a.m. Sunday and found Moreno, 19, a junior at the State University College at Oswego, lying near a parked car.

Moreno was taken by ambulance to the college and was then flown by helicopter to University Hospital.

According to a witness in the restaurant, the fight began when patrons began arguing about Obama’s presidential election.

There are lots of ways this story could be twisted. Did the soldier have PTSD from his time served in Afghanistan? Was this a Black vs Latino thing? Unless you’ve been in a New York barfight I don’t want to hear it. I know Oswego as I used to guard the power plant there when I was with the New New York Army National Guard. I’m willing to bet it was as simple as knowing the quickest way to goad someone into throwing punches more than a refection of either faction. Sad any way you look at it.

The Vet I’m singling out for thanks this year is Max Cleland, Vietnam Vet, triple amputee, and rumored to be in the running for Secretary of the Army. Stop by Fallenmonk’s to read more about doings in Cleland’s home state of Georgia.

May 26, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
For Women Warriors, Deep Wounds, Little Care
By HELEN BENEDICT

THIS Memorial Day, as an ever-increasing number of mentally and physically wounded soldiers return from Iraq, the Department of Veterans Affairs faces a pressing crisis: women traumatized not only by combat but also by sexual assault and harassment from their fellow service members. Sadly, the department is failing to fully deal with this problem.

Women make up some 15 percent of the United States active duty forces, and 11 percent of the soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly a third of female veterans say they were sexually assaulted or raped while in the military, and 71 percent to 90 percent say they were sexually harassed by the men with whom they served.

This sort of abuse drastically increases the risk and intensity of post-traumatic stress disorder. One study found that female soldiers who were sexually assaulted were nine times more likely to show symptoms of this disorder than those who weren’t. Sexual harassment by itself is so destructive, another study revealed, it causes the same rates of post-traumatic stress in women as combat does in men. And rape can lead to other medical crises, including diabetes, asthma, chronic pelvic pain, eating disorders, miscarriages and hypertension.

The threat of post-traumatic stress has risen in recent years as women’s roles in war have changed. More of them now come under fire, suffer battle wounds and kill the enemy, just as men do.

As women return for repeat tours, usually redeploying with their same units, many must go back to war with the same man (or men) who abused them. This leaves these women as threatened by their own comrades as by the war itself. Yet the combination of sexual assault and combat has barely been acknowledged or studied.

I heard the first bit of sense out of Andy Rooney last night that I’ve heard from him in some time. Simply put he said the remembering does nothing for the people who are gone. Remember those who are right here, right now.

Post-War Suicides May Exceed Combat Deaths, U.S. Says
By Avram Goldstein

May 5 (Bloomberg) — The number of suicides among veterans of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because of inadequate mental health care, the U.S. government’s top psychiatric researcher said.

Community mental health centers, hobbled by financial limits, haven’t provided enough scientifically sound care, especially in rural areas, said Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He briefed reporters today at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting in Washington.

Insel echoed a Rand Corporation study published last month that found about 20 percent of returning U.S. soldiers have post- traumatic stress disorder or depression, and only half of them receive treatment. About 1.6 million U.S. troops have fought in the two wars since October 2001, the report said. About 4,560 soldiers had died in the conflicts as of today, the Defense Department reported on its Web site.

Based on those figures and established suicide rates for similar patients who commonly develop substance abuse and other complications of post-traumatic stress disorder, “it’s quite possible that the suicides and psychiatric mortality of this war could trump the combat deaths,” Insel said.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, known as PTSD, is the failure to cope after a major shock, such as an auto accident, a rape or combat, Insel said. PTSD may remain dormant for months or years before it surfaces, and in about 10 percent of cases people never recover, he said.

What does it say that more people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan than in the original September 11th attacks? What does it say that this has already gone on longer than WWII and our defeat of the storied Nazi war machine? And what will it say to you and the rest of the world that American soldiers have taken their own lives in such large numbers?