Taken from http://www.whyy.org/news/impactofwar.html

Pictured from left: Iraq war veteran Rick Lund and Afghanistan war veteran Chris Marvin are now graduate students at University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. Both have gone to see recent movies set around the wars.

At the recent Golden Globe Awards ceremony, Actor Kevin Bacon won best TV mini series actor for his role in HBO's Taking Chance. Three other movies about the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were also up for nominations. As part of our Impact of War Series, Stephanie Marudas talks with Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans about how they connect to these films.

Click the player below to listen to the audio:

A Guide for Military Personnel
This guide is for service members returning from deployment and was developed by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. It contains information to help military personnel understand what to expect when returning from a war zone, and to help them to better adapt back to home life.

Reintegration is an adjustment for all involved. This information aims to make this process as smooth as possible and covers:

 A description of the common reactions that occur following deployment to a war zone
 Information about possible problems to watch out for, including PTSD
 How expectations about homecoming may not be the same for service members and family members
 The effects that war zone stress can have on your family and work life
 What you can do to help yourself with readjustment
 What help is available and what it involves

Download the Military Personal Guide PDF File Here

A Guide for Families of Military Personnel
As a military family member you want to understand what to expect during reintegration following time in a war zone, and to help your loved one adapt back to home life. Reintegration is an adjustment for all involved.

This information, developed by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, aims to make this process as smooth as possible and covers:

 A description of the common reactions that occur following deployment to a war zone
 How expectations about homecoming may not be the same for service members and family members
 Ways to talk and listen to one another in order to re-establish trust, closeness and openness
 Information about possible problems to watch out for
 How to offer and find assistance for your loved ones
 What help is available and what it involves

Download the Guide for Families of Military Personnel PDF File Here

The Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center, Inc. (PVMSEC) received a $60,000 grant to expand its capacity to train women veterans for green jobs. This grant is part of the Moving From Red Green: Working Women in the Green Economy, a Business and Professional Women’s (BPW) Foundation initiative funded by the Walmart Foundation. Today women make up 17% of the armed forces, a number that has risen considerably since the Vietnam War. As women are discharged from the military and begin to transition back into civilian life some face many barriers to obtaining employment. Reports from the Department of Defense Mental Health Task Force highlight the growing mental health problems that troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing. Nearly 50 percent of National Guard members and reservists report symptoms of mental disorders and many veterans find it difficult to access military-provided clinical care and support groups. This grant will address those barriers and give women veterans the necessary resources to obtain a successful career in the green industry.

“We would like to thank BPWF and Walmart for giving us this great opportunity to make an impact on female veterans’ lives.” said PVMSEC’s CEO, Edward Lowry. “We believe the emerging green economy offers immense employment potential for women veterans. Many women who serve in the armed forces are drawn to and have experience serving in non-traditional jobs; they are well suited to pursue careers in the green economy and we are extremely excited to start working on this initiative.”

If you would like more information contact us at: 215-923-2600.

February 03, 2010 - Military.com | by Bryant Jordan

The so-called “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy requiring gays and lesbians to keep their lifestyle under wraps while serving in the military may be repealed down the road, but in the short term – within 45 days -- the Pentagon intends to find ways to make it more difficult for homosexuals to be booted from the service.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that he has ordered a review of the Don’t Ask regulations and recommendations on changing them so they may be enforced “in a fairer manner.” While neither Gates nor President Obama can end the Don’t Ask policy enacted in 1993 by Congress, Gates said there is room to tweak the regs while still working within the law, and that he expects to have some ideas on his desk by the spring.

“We can raise the level of the officer who is authorized to initiate an inquiry” under Don’t Ask, he told the committee. “We can raise the level of the officer who conducts the inquiry. We can raise the bar on what constitutes credible information used to initiate an inquiry. We can raise the bar on what constitutes a reliable person upon whose word an inquiry can be initiated. Overall, we can reduce the instances in which a service member who is trying to serve his country honorably is ‘outed’ by a third person who is willing to harm a service member.”

February 03, 2010 - Atlanta Journal-Constitution

WASHINGTON --- Saying America can't afford the costs or the threat to national security, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) and a bipartisan group of other senators introduced legislation Tuesday that would forbid public funding for a civilian trial of those accused of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Instead, the senators want the government to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged to be the Sept. 11 mastermind, and other terror suspects in a military courtroom at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"We should not give those who planned the attack of Sept. 11 constitutional rights that are guaranteed to American citizens," Chambliss said.

The Obama administration wants to try the suspects in civilian court in part to show the world that the United States can give them a fair and open trial. But since Congress controls the government's purse strings, a civilian trial could be stopped if the proposed legislation passes.

Attorney General Eric Holder wanted to try Mohammed in federal court in New York City, but city officials now say it will be too expensive and a logistical nightmare. The Justice Department is considering alternative cities.

February 03, 2010 - Associated Press

WASHINGTON --- Al-Qaida can be expected to attempt an attack on the United States in the next three to six months, senior U.S. intelligence officials told Congress.

The terrorist organization is deploying operatives to the United States to carry out new attacks from inside the country, including "clean" recruits with a negligible trail of terrorist contacts, CIA Director Leon Panetta said. The chilling warning comes as Christmas airline attack suspect, Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutullab, is cooperating with federal investigators, a federal law enforcement official said Tuesday.

Al-Qaida is also inspiring homegrown extremists to trigger violence on their own, Panetta said.

The annual assessment of the nation's terror threats provided no startling new terror trends, but amplified growing concerns since the Christmas airline attack in Detroit that militants are growing harder to detect and moving more quickly in their plots.

Washington (CNN) -- The last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, former Cpl. Frank Buckles, turns 109 on Monday and is still hoping for a national memorial in Washington for his comrades. Buckles is expected to deliver remarks during a quiet celebration Monday afternoon at his home in Charles Town, West Virginia.

But the old "Doughboy" -- as World War I American infantry troops were called -- has already been outspoken in recent years, urging congressional lawmakers to give federal recognition and a facelift to a run-down District of Columbia memorial in an overgrown, wooded area along the National Mall.

In December, at 108, Buckles testified on Capitol Hill as lawmakers considered whether to fund renovation and give the site "national" monument status. But rival legislation seeks the "national" designation for a 1920s-era memorial located in Kansas City, Missouri.

Congress has not yet decided on the legislation.

In 2008, the old soldier came to Washington and visited that 1930s-vintage District memorial. In his wheelchair, helped along by a military aide, he slowly crossed the cracks in the flagstone walkway, and saw the cracks in the marble gazebo.

Fans attending the Philadelphia Wings game at the Wachovia Center on Saturday, January 23, are encouraged to drop their gloves and fight homelessness in Philadelphia, when the Wings (1-1) host the Colorado Mammoth at 7 p.m. All gloves collected from fans upon entry will be donated to the Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service and Education Center. Every fan who donates a pair of gloves will be eligible to win a seat upgrade to the front row, up against the glass seats.

Individual game tickets start as low as $18 and are available now at WingsLAX.com or by calling 215-389-WING.

The Mammoth are 0-2 after losing their home opener, 14-13, to the Edmonton Rush on January 16, and 17-8, to the Washington Stealth, on January 9. The Mammoth feature seven rookies on this year's roster.

The Philadelphia Veterans Multi-Service & Education Center is a non-profit organization dedicated to assisting our nation's honorably discharged veterans. Their goal is to provide employment, training, and related educational services to all honorably discharged Veterans.

January 26, 2010 - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

BUENOS AIRES --- The growing U.S. military deployment in Haiti is provoking mixed feelings in the Caribbean country and beyond.

There is relief that someone might actively combat lawlessness on the streets of Port-au-Prince in the wake of this month's devastating earthquake. But there are serious concerns that the quake-related aid operation could become an open-ended military intervention.

Help is still desperately needed with an estimated 200,000 dead and 1 million homeless, but even aid is subject to political and ideological interpretation.

"We fully support military involvement in logistics and security, but it needs to be under the umbrella of the U.N.," Penny Lawrence, aid and development charity OXFAM's director for Britain, told the German Press Agency dpa.

"The rhetoric on coordination is right, but in practice it is proving challenging."

January 25, 2010 - American Forces Press Service | by John J. Kruzel

Roughly 20,000 U.S. troops will be supporting relief efforts in Haiti, military officials said, adding to the 13,000-strong American force currently there.

Comprising the force will be the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, the 82nd Airborne Division's 2nd Brigade and thousands of other troops operating afloat off the Haitian coast and on shore, distributing provisions, assisting in medical operations and helping to maintain security. Some 2,200 Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit are slated to arrive within 48 hours, military officials said.

"The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit is a huge part of enabling us to extend our reach to places around the country that may need our assistance but we just haven't been there yet," Lt. Gen. P.K. Keen, the top U.S. commander in Haiti, said on The Pentagon Channel today.

The additional forces come as international aid continues pouring into Haiti following a magnitude 7 earthquake that struck Jan. 12, creating what an official called one of the greatest humanitarian emergencies in the history of the Americas.