FEMALE SOLDIERS SAY THEY’RE UP FOR BATTLE

COMBAT OUTPOST RAHMAN KHEYL, Afghanistan — Pfc. Tasha Conger and Pfc. Tanya Redinbaugh hope their service will seem typical someday. For now, they’re part of a tiny minority of female soldiers living at front-line combat positions.

That could change if a national commission gets its way. The commission told Congress last month that if a woman can show she’s qualified, she ought to be allowed to take any military job.

The two women believe the change will come in time. “I don’t know that there will be any hurry,” Redinbaugh said. “It definitely needs to be done right.” Conger and Redinbaugh are READ MORE »

RESTREPO’ DIRECTOR IS KILLED IN LIBYA

Tim Hetherington, the conflict photographer who was a director and producer of the film “Restrepo,” was killed in the besieged city of Misurata on Wednesday, and three photographers working beside him were wounded.

The wounds to two of the photographers — Chris Hondros and Guy Martin — were severe, according to Andre Liohn, a colleague at the triage center where they were being treated Wednesday night.

Mr. Hondros, an American working for the Getty photo agency, suffered a severe brain injury and was in extremely critical condition, according to Mr. Liohn. He had been revived READ MORE »

WAR AT HOME: FIGHTING FOR EMPLOYMENT

In the military, Eric Smith led a four-man ICU team, performing procedures that only the most experienced civilian nurses were trained to perform, but more than three years after leaving the Marines he hasn’t even been able to get a job “changing bed pans.”

Smith, 26, is in the same situation as many veterans, whose military training and experience gave them skills that should be in high demand in the civilian job market, but have struggled to find work because they do not have certification in their field.

The former Navy corpsman and member of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America READ MORE »

HOMELESS WOMEN VETERANS NEED MORE CLINICAL RESOURCES, OPEN EARS

Paulina Hicks has always done things systematically. She went to college for civil engineering, enlisted in the military out of veritable love of her country and always kept a cinched-tight savings account. Now, as a former military officer, she can’t quite understand how her life escaped her fixed grip, forcing her to assume a new title: homeless veteran.

I meet with Hicks at her home in Cabrillo Villages, a U.S. Vets-funded women’s living center in Long Beach, Calif. She’s friendly and circumspect all at once, but she eases into talking by READ MORE »

WHY BUSINESSES SHOULD HIRE MORE VETERANS WITH DISABILITIES

Most people would agree that America’s Veterans with disabilities — those who have served and sacrificed for our freedoms — clearly deserve a fair shot at what is at the heart of the American dream, a good job with a good company.

Yet the unemployment statistic for Veterans with severe disabilities is a startling 85 percent.

How can we work together to change this picture and to turn this grim statistic around? How can we bring the collective power of the public and private sectors together to improve the READ MORE »

MCCHRYSTAL TO OVERSEE WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE

Nearly a year after President Barack Obama fired Gen. Stanley McChrystal as his top commander in Afghanistan, the White House has asked him to head a new advisory board to support military families.

The three-person panel will oversee the Joining Forces program, an initiative led by Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden. The effort will focus on mobilizing communities, businesses and the government to assist the families of those serving their country. READ MORE »

GATES TELLS TROOPS IN IRAQ PAYCHECKS MAY NOT COME

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq – Defense Secretary Robert Gates told troops deployed in Iraq that he knows what it’s like to live paycheck-to-paycheck and so hopes the federal government will not shut down on Friday. But if the White House and Congress cannot make a deal, troops may not see a paycheck at the end of the month.

Before Gates arrived to meet with 200 soldiers from the U.S. Division-Central headquarters in Baghdad for a typical open question-and-answer session, several unit members said they planned to ask him about the shutdown affecting their pay. And it was the first question asked by one unidentified soldier: “How do you see the possible government shutdown READ MORE »

SENATOR DEBBIE STABENOW SAYS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN “COULD DISRUPT” VETERANS’ BENEFITS

With  apossible government shutdown looming, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., is backing legislation that would make sure the paychecks for members of Congress stop along with everything else. Although similar measures have been proposed, so far congressional paychecks are still intact.

We addressed this proposal more generally in a separate item. But for this item, we were more interested in checking one of the arguments Stabenow made as she argued for the bill’s passage. READ MORE »

OFFICIAL: TROOPS’ PAY WOULD BE WITHHELD UNTIL SHUTDOWN IS RESOLVED

Troops will remain on duty even if politicians can’t solve a budget impasse that threatens to shutter the U.S. government after April 8, a senior Obama administration official said Wednesday.

But pay for any work done after the shutdown would have to wait until federal operations resumed, said the official, who is familiar with the government’s contingency planning but not authorized to speak publicly.

“The military would be paid through the 8th” — or half a paycheck, the official said. “Beyond READ MORE »

REPORT: SHUTDOWN WOULD HURT MILITARY FAMILIES

The pay freeze that would come with an extended government shutdown would severely hurt military families and require the military to organize financial help for those who don’t have savings to cover bills, a nonpartisan arm of Congress is warning lawmakers.

A shutdown could come as early as midnight Friday. As a months-long dispute over federal spending continues, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget warned Wednesday morning that military members would be expected to report to work without pay. The READ MORE »