As many as 17 soldiers took their own lives during May, 10 more than in April, despite aggressive efforts by the Army to get soldiers the help they need.

The number of suicides had been steadily going down since January, when 23 soldier deaths were thought to be suicides, to April when seven soldiers’ deaths were investigated as possible suicides. This year’s deaths are on pace to come close to last year’s 144 suicides, an unprecedented number for the Army.

There are so many variables in why someone may have committed suicide, but the rate does seem high for the Military. High stress jobs often have a higher rate of suicides and being a soldier is undeniably one of the toughest jobs on earth. You are faced with real life and death situations and may have to do things that are very, very difficult to cope with, like killing enemy combatants. Hopefully they'll continue to improve being able to identify soldiers who need help and encourage more to come forward and get that help.

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Updated: More here on what the current probe into why the suicide rate is skyrocketing.

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s refusal to share with other agencies even the most basic data on the bombing attacks by remote-controlled unmanned predator drones in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal region, combined with recent revelations that CIA operatives have been paying Pakistanis to identify the targets, suggests that managers of the drone attacks programmes have been using the total secrecy surrounding the programme to hide abuses and high civilian casualties.

Intelligence analysts have been unable to obtain either the list of military targets of the drone strikes or the actual results in terms of al Qaeda or civilians killed, according to a Washington source familiar with internal discussion of the drone strike programme. The source insisted on not being identified because of the extreme sensitivity of the issue.

"They can’t find out anything about the programme," the source told IPS. That has made it impossible for other government agencies to judge its real consequences, according to the source.

Since early 2009, Barack Obama administration officials have been claiming that the predator attacks in Pakistan have killed nine of 20 top al Qaeda officials, but they have refused to disclose how many civilians have been killed in the strikes.

There is a fine line between accountability and too many prying eyes. On the one hand our military needs some autonomy to get their jobs done. With ever increasing media presence it's difficult for or soldiers to do what has to be done. It's not always pretty, clean and neat. That's war. On the other hand, we have to prevent the abuse of power. If our soldiers are committing war crimes then they need to be held accountable. We are talking about the CIA here, after all, so what exactly are the hiding? The only real reason they would have to hide this intel is fear of exposing a failure in the drone program. If the issue was abuse they would simply offer up a few patsies to take the fall and save the program, but if the program were faulty? They could always go with the "revealing these details will compromise our operations", which is perfectly valid. I'm sure we'll be seeing probes and discussions about abuse for many years to come.

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The Supreme Court has refused to accept a case regarding the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law on homosexuals in the military, renewing calls by foes of the policy for Congress and President Obama to rescind it.

The high court announced June 8 it would not review a 2008 decision by the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston that rejected a challenge of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" by service members discharged under the policy.

This courts have declined weighing in on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy since it was created in 1993. The controversial policy allows Homosexuals to join the Military as long as no one knows about it. The U.S. Military is it's own country when it comes to laws and most judges seem to agree that challenging the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy should be taken up with Congress and the White House. President Obama has already been outspoken about wanting to abolish the policy but it's a long standing military tradition that won't be easy to get rid of. What do you think, should they get rid of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and let Gays be open in the military?

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The Obama administration pressed ahead yesterday with its plans to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, flying a detainee to New York to face federal trial despite bipartisan opposition in Congress to bringing such prisoners to the United States for trial, resettlement or continued detention.

President Obama has been vocal about his wishes to close the Guantanamo Bay prison. Reports of abuse have been making the rounds since early in the War on Terror. However, not everyone in Congress agrees we need to close the base and there has been serious opposition in bringing these detainees into the U.S. Despite objections, Ahmed Ghailani will be the first to be brought into the U.S. to face trial.

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Senator John McCain just posted this via Twitter:

The release of interrogation photos vastly increases danger to our servicemen and women [source]

I believe the Senator is talking about how our enemies will react when they see these photos. A few pictures have already been released in the last few months but I suspect the more graphic images remain under wraps. When these images do hit the public do you think it will put our soldiers at risk?

John Voight talks about how Obama came to be the President and how Republican's can learn from that. Clearly a political speech, you'll either love or hate this video, but there's no doubt Obama's campaign was incredible. I'm glad to see the Republican's are looking at how Obama did what he did and applying some of those strategies for the 2010 elections. Good or bad, Obama has changed politics forever. Check out the video below.



Watch it and post your thoughts below.

SAN ANTONIO - An Air Force staff sergeant who posed nude for Playboy magazine has been relieved of her duties while the military investigates, officials said Thursday.

In February's issue, hitting newsstands this week, Michelle Manhart is photographed in uniform yelling and holding weapons under the headline "Tough Love." The following pages show her partially clothed, wearing her dog tags while working out, as well as completely nude.

Do you think this Marine was treated fairly? Did she cross the line? What do you think should happen to a male marine if he posed for a woman's magazine of the same nature as Playboy?

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration and holdout GOP senators expressed confidence on Sunday they could reach a compromise on rules for CIA interrogations of suspected terrorists.

Neither the president's national security aides nor some of the lawmakers who are resisting White House pressure would say how they can reconcile their deep differences after a week of public sparring.

Does Article 3 of the Geneva Convention really keep other countries from torturing our citizens when interrogating them to extract information?


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Even as they serve overseas, America's military men and women face a growing threat at home: Predatory lenders. The problem is so bad the Department of Defense says it's weakening the military.

"We do need legislative assistance to curb this problem," says David Chu, undersecretary for personnel and readiness at the Pentagon.

Is this industry any different than the Pawn shop industry? The good thing is that there is little leverage in regulating pawn shops but lending is subject to guidelines and laws. Unfortunately, the people who need financial help the most are often taken advantage of because they have little recourse to "fight back," or defend themselves against greed. More attention and regulation probably needs to be directed at this industry.

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The chief judge in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial said Thursday that he does not believe Hussein was a dictator.

Judge Abdullah al-Amiri made the remark in a friendly exchange with the deposed leader, a day after the prosecution said the judge should step down because he is biased toward the defense. Hussein and his co-defendants are being tried on charges of committing atrocities against Kurds in northern Iraq nearly two decades ago.

Does justice exist in Iraq? Are we letting a Fox guard the hen house? Is the judge more worried about his own skin, afraid, or just part of a new crop of oppressors?

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Four-year-old Gabriel Jacobs inherited his dad's sandy hair, long nose and blue eyes. The day they buried what was left of his father --a piece of rib, part of a thigh bone, a bit of one arm -- the boy released a balloon into the air, then turned that familiar face skyward to make sure his daddy caught it.

In some parts of the world there is a great deal of anti-american sentiment beign expressed. On CNN.com today an article stated,

"Critics say Americans have squandered the goodwill that prompted France's Le Monde newspaper to proclaim "We are all Americans" the day after the attacks, and that the Iraq war and other U.S. policies have made the world less safe in the five years since.
In Europe, where Islamic terror has struck twice since 9/11, in the Madrid train bombings and the London transit attacks, the silent tributes were tinged with doubts and recriminations."

If the rest of the world doesn't like how the United States is handling the "War on Terror,” and make no mistake we are at war, then perhaps they can explain to Gabriel Jacobs why he will never see his father's face, hear his voice, or feel his arms wrapped around him. If they can do a better job, why haven't they? It’s easy to sit back, do little and point fingers.
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It's a numbers game, pure and simple. Recruiters are judged by their superiors primarily upon the number of recruits they get to sign up. Sign up large numbers, and you're judged to be a good recruiter. Fail to sign up the minimum number assigned to you (known as "making mission"), and you can find your career at a dead-end. This policy pressures some recruiters to adopt unethical practices in order to "make mission."

So, you ask, "why don't the services put a stop to this?" Easier said, than done. Each of the services have recruiting regulations which make it a crime for recruiters to lie, cheat, or knowingly process applicants that they know are ineligible for enlistment. Recruiters are punished when they are caught violating the standards. However, the key phrase is "when they are caught." Not that easy to do, as there are usually no witnesses. It becomes a "he said/he said" type of deal.

Recruiters are getting a bad rap these days as pressure to perform pushes some of them to bend or break the rules. Rod has written an excellent article about what recruiters might not have told you. If you are considering joining you might want to give this a close look.

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Hizbullah's bombs: According to a recent Newsweek report, Hizbullah 's chief, Hassan Nasrallah - after two years of bragging about a remote-control aircraft that could carry an explosive device to strike a target anywhere inside Israel - finally put that threat into action a few weeks ago, during the Lebanon war , launching three pilotless planes toward Israeli targets -- including two on the war's last day.

It's just scary that people don't even have to get their hands dirty to send a devastating bomb into enemy territory. At least terrorists have to plant bombs or blow themselves up.

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The U.N. Security Council has set Thursday as a deadline for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment - a process that can produce either fuel for a reactor or material for weapons. Iran has refused any immediate suspension, calling the deadline illegal, and instead this week offered a counterproposal that the United States and some European nations said fell short.

Ahmadinejad's latest show of defiance seemed to solidify the country's determination to snub the Security Council, following a string of war games and uncompromising public statements this month on the nuclear standoff. But whether the U.S. can muster enough support on the 15-nation council to impose economic or political sanctions remains in question.

In his criticism of the Security Council, Ahmadinejad singled out two of its permanent members with veto power - the United States and Britain - for what he called their failure to listen to the needs of other countries.

"The U.S. and Britain are the source of many tensions," he said. "At the Security Council, where they have to protect security, they enjoy the veto right. If anybody confronts them, there is no place to take complaints to."

"This (veto right) is the source of problems of the world," he said. "It is an insult to the dignity, independence, freedom and sovereignty of nations."

As crazy as I think the president of Iran is, is he right about the veto power the U.S. and Britain have? Why does anyone have veto power and what is it for? Still, Iran seems bent on stirring the pot. I'm not sure if they truly want the nuclear power for ... power or for weapons. They are a very dangerous country by all accounts. I wonder if anyone has ever proposed that the U.N. run the nuclear power plant. Staff it with people from outside Iran and their job is to make sure the plant runs smoothly and give the Iranian people the benefit of nuclear power without giving them access to raw nuclear materials that could be used for weapons. If they are just after energy then this seems like a somewhat reasonable way to go. I don't really like the idea of them being that close to the materials in the first place but I guess you have to start somewhere.

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"With tens of thousands of Guard members training at mobilization stations, the military does not have the resources available to pick them up and take them home," Horton adds. "That's why here in Alabama, we have deployment ceremonies before units leave the state to report to mobilization stations."

The policy has inspired a minor furor in Birmingham, according to one resident with no direct ties to the military.

"Our young people [are] willing to lay down their lives for our country, but we cannot (or will not) bring them home for one last visit with their family before they ship out?" schoolteacher Jessie Peeples wrote in an email to Military.com.

She heard about the policy on a local radio program last week.

"The people who listen to the talk show are very upset about this situation. The callers to the show were of all ages," Peeples recalls. "Any state should be much more grateful to their military. Or is it much easier just to say we are grateful for what our young people do in the defense of this country, rather than to dip into our pocketbooks and show we are thankful?"

I'm all for the military helping our soldiers get home to see their families. However, it doesn't seem realistic with the sheer volume of soldiers. I'm not sure what the solution would be, but families could come see their soldiers or they could have parties before they go off to training. Maybe some sort of travel allowance could be arranged or a deal with Greyhound or other transportation companies. There has to be a reasonable way to get this done.

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