Widow: After 8 Deployments, Army Ranger Takes Own Life

Wash. – A soldier’s widow says his fellow Army Rangers wouldn’t do anything to help him before he took his own life – after eight deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Army found Staff Sgt. Jared Hagemann’s body at a training area of Joint Base Lewis McChord a few weeks ago.

A spokesman for the base tells KOMO News that the nature of the death is still undetermined. But Staff Sgt. Hagemann’s widow says her husband took his own life – and it didn’t need to happen.

“It was just horrible. And he would just cry,” says Ashley Hagemann. READ MORE »

Studies on Female Vets Influence VA Health Care

The large number of women serving in the military and in combat zones for extended periods is producing reams of data that will shape health care and programs for female service members and veterans for years to come, analysts say.

With nearly 214,000 women on active duty and roughly 240,000 women having deployed to operational theaters since 2001, researchers are poring over information and interviewing female veterans to study a host of issues.

More studies have been produced on women in the military in the past six years than were issued in READ MORE »

Meeting the Needs of Todays Warriors and Their Families

From 2006 to 2010, an anonymous donor (since revealed) invested approximately $250 million in the well-being of service members, veterans, families and survivors impacted by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The funds were distributed to over 50 organizations, including the Coalition for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans (CIAV), to build a network of care, to shepherd ties between grantee agencies serving individuals and build public/private partnerships with our colleagues in the DoD, VA, Department of Labor, and other relevant government entities. This investment has been phenomenal, and services have grown and matured, but we find ourselves facing new challenges in a tough economy. READ MORE »