WASHINGTON, D.C. – Three soldiers receiving Purple Hearts today at Walter Reed Army Medical Center spoke about the strains on soldiers in Iraq that contributed to a record number of suicides last year in the Army.

The Army reported Thursday there were 115 suicides in 2007, the highest number since it began keeping records of suicides in 1980. So far this year, there have been 38 confirmed suicides.

"There's a lot of strain because probably a lot of people are ready to come home," said Staff Sgt. Bennie Lamb, 40, of Macon, Ga., who was on his third tour in Iraq when he was wounded March 14 by a suicide bomber.

NBC News/ Antoine Sanfuentes

Staff Sgt. Bennie Lamb receives a Purple Heart on May 30, 2008.

The uncertainty of extended tours, Lamb said, only adds to the pressure on soldiers.

"Don't know when you're leaving," he said. "With this 15-month, 12-month tour thing, you know, that's a lot of stress. That's a lot of stress."

Army officials said their statistics do not demonstrate a direct link between repeated deployments and a rise in suicides, but Army psychiatrist Col. Elspeth Ritchie acknowledged the intense stress of a combat zone takes a toll on soldiers.

"We see a lot of things that are going on in the war which do contribute," Ritchie told Reuters. She pointed specifically to long months away from home, the horrors of combat, the ready availability of loaded weapons and the high activity levels of current Army operations.

Chief Warrant Officer Brian Callan, 42, of Adamstown, Md., an Apache pilot who was wounded Sept. 11 in Baghdad, said it's especially stressful for anyone who goes off base.

"Anytime you go outside, especially flying," he said. "If you were to go down out there, then obviously it's a race against time trying to get you recovered."

NBC News/ Antoine SanfuentesÂ

Chief Warrant Officer Brian Callan receives his Purple Heart at Walter Reed on May 30.

Pfc. Luis Villalba-Cabrera, 22, was wounded by a roadside bomb just 24 days after deploying to Iraq last November. Being away from his family was his hardest adjustment.

"Just being away, being far away," he said. "Communicating by phone – not the best way of communicating."

Villalba-Cabrera said soldiers play video games and hang out with friends to keep their minds occupied as much as possible.

"It's a stressful environment," he said. "We are in a war conflict, so pretty stressful."

NBC News/ Antoine SanfuentesÂ

Pfc. Luis Villalba-Cabrera receives his Purple Heart at Walter Reed on May 30.

All three agree the impending cutback in tours from 15 months to 12 months will be a big help.

"Oh, yes, oh, yes," Villalba-Cabrera said, chuckling. "That few months makes a big difference. Being back at home as much as possible is always great."

"I think that will help, for sure," Callan said. "It definitely can't hurt."

"Six months would be a whole lot better," said Lamb, laughing.

John Rutherford is an NBC News Producer based out of the Washington, D.C. bureau and is a decorated Vietnam veteran. He also posts stories on the military at www.dailynightly.msnbc.com (click on "John Rutherford" under "categories").

LAKELAND, Fla. – "Holy Spirit fall! God is here! We want more! More, more, more!"

That's what Canadian evangelist Todd Bentley yells out nearly every evening to the thousands who gather to hear him preach. The 32-year-old Bentley looks more like a biker than a minister, with body piercings and tattoos all over his arms and neck. But the crowds don't seem to mind how he looks. They just want what they believe Bentley has – the ability to heal them. 

Courtesy Loren BrownÂ

Todd Bentley at the Lakeland Convention Center in Lakeland, Fla. on May 21.

Bentley claims that God has used him to supernaturally heal hundreds of people of diseases ranging from glaucoma to diabetes to even cancer. How to explain it?

Bentley said in an interview that he doesn't know exactly why now, why him, why Lakeland, and he does not promise that everyone who comes to him will be healed. But he does maintain a pragmatic posture toward prayer.

"I say, you have nothing to lose but your sickness. If the doctors can't help you, why wouldn't you give God a chance?"

"If you want God, just come get some," he shouts on stage nearly every night.

Bentley has repeated a version of this invitation daily since April 2 when he and his team from Fresh Fire Ministries, which he founded in 1997,  first arrived here from British Columbia, Canada, for what he thought would be five days of "revival" meetings in a local church. But those plans changed, he said, because "God is moving...and people know something is happening here." His meetings have been extended indefinitely.

While Bentley and Fresh Fire Ministries are not part of an organized Protestant denomination, his beliefs tend to follow Pentecostal, charismatic traditions.

He claims that God has used him repeatedly before this revival to heal the sick, but added that this series of revival meetings is unprecedented in his personal experience as a minister.

The meetings have outgrown four venues, including a local convention center that seats roughly 7,000. Now they meet under an air-conditioned tent that can accommodate 10,000 on the grounds of the local airport. Organizers estimate that more than 140,000 people from at least 40 nations have attended meetings here. 

In this country, the self-billed "Florida outpouring" has generated mostly local media attention. But word of the revival has been generating plenty of buzz online, taking Bentley's message and claims far beyond Florida. 

So far, according to  Fresh Fire Ministries, 1.2 million people have watched live streaming broadcasts of the meetings on the Internet. The meetings also are carried on the religious satellite channel, God TV, which transmits Bentley's healing services to more than 200 nations. In this country, God TV is carried on DIRECTV.
 
Not everyone is comfortable with this expression of Christianity, including some Protestant theologians. R. Douglas Geivett, a professor at the conservative, evangelical Talbot School of Theology, is deeply skeptical of the "Florida outpouring" and does not believe Bentley's claims of supernatural healing are consistent with Christian doctrine       

"I don't think it fits neatly into any branch of Christianity," said Geivett. "Mr. Bentley's worldview appears to be a mixture of New Age notions, an obsession with the paranormal, and an untutored grasp of Christian theology."

Courtesy Loren BrownÂ

A woman named Deborah, who suffers from scoliosis, prays with Todd Bentley in Lakeland, Fla. on May 5 as David Tomberlin looks on and Russ Roderick acts as a "catcher." Afterwards, she claimed her illness was healed.

Still, what seems to be drawing all these people of varying ages, ethnicities, and classes is a clear hunger for what Bentley's meetings are offering: the hope of healing and some sort of touch from God.

David Tomberlin, an evangelist who's been dubbed the "Ryan Seacrest" of these meetings because he serves as an emcee of sorts, tried to explain the claims of healings, saying, "The Bible talks about Jesus healing sick people. It says he was moved by compassion, so part of it is God's heart of compassion."

So every night, Bentley and his ministry team take to the stage and try to call heaven down to earth.

That's when the sick are urged to come forward for prayer and healing.

In many instances, Bentley places his hands on someone's head or area of infirmity and cries out for the power of God to descend. In response, some people may stand and physically tremble, while others may literally fall down to the ground in what they call "falling under the power" of the Holy Spirit. 

Bentley's associates say that this is not a painful experience, but rather one of being physically overcome by the loving presence of God. Anticipating these sorts of responses, one of Bentley's staff members stands behind each individual to serve as a "catcher" to gently guide the person down to the floor. Skeptics claim this "falling" can be the result of being overcome with emotion or a learned behavior. 

At a recent meeting, Stephen Godula was brought on stage to tell his story. He testified that he had been healed of multiple forms of cancer by watching the meetings on the Internet at home. He plans to return to his oncologist in Philadelphia to document his healing.

Patsy Wallingford traveled from Arkansas in search of healing. Since a tractor-trailer plowed into her mobile home three years ago, Wallingford has been bound to a wheelchair because of nerve damage in her legs and feet.

On a recent night, Wallingford took to the stage and received a prayer from Bentley. "I felt like what was a warm water flow from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet," she explained.

And that's when, she said, she could feel something cold against her right foot; she decided to step out in faith and step out of her wheelchair in front of clapping and cheering crowds.

As she pushed her wheelchair off the stage, she paused to answer questions from one of Bentley's staff members, who filled out a one-page form detailing the claims of miraculous healing.

Bentley and his staff say they welcome as much documentation as people are willing to provide after they return home.

Bentley and his ministry do not charge an entry fee for his meetings. Each evening, four hours into the service, at close to 11 p.m., white plastic offering buckets are passed around.

They asked for money only once and strangely, on the night this reporter was there, they took their offering so late at night that the crowd had thinned-out. Bentley also receives donations directly through his Web site.

The ministry said that the average donation per person is $3-$5. While some people were reluctant to talk about what they gave, one visitor from Finland said he was only able to put in a few dollars because his travel costs were so high.

A spokeswoman for the revival, Lynne Breidenbach, said the offerings have covered their enormous operating costs. Before the move to the airport grounds, she said the ministry paid a daily rental fee of $15,000 for the local convention center, as well as comparable fees for use of a stadium. His spokesperson didn't know how much the current setup costs. The offerings, said Breidenbach, have not contributed to a significant infusion of cash for Bentley or his ministry.

According to Breidenbach, Bentley "continues to draw his standard salary, set by his board, from his office in Canada. It is a modest salary and is in the five-figure range." The ministry said that their financial records are subject to an outside audit every year.

Bentley said he was willing to open Fresh Fire Ministries' bookkeeping records for the Lakeland revival meetings, but has yet to provide the documentation to msnbc.com. He said that he welcomes media attention and scrutiny because the "outpouring" is a work of God and he has "nothing to hide."

Taking the notion of any potential criticism head on, he said, "I don't have time to debate whether revival is happening or not. I don't have time to nitpick the reasons why God might not be moving." Instead, he said, his greater concern is to move as fervently in faith to see as many people healed as he can during this time.

And indeed, Bentley's claims have stirred up debates within and outside the church.

Erik Thoennes, also a professor from the Talbot School of Theology, offers a more accepting, though still cautious stance, than his colleague Geivett.

Thoennes believes many Christians today are open to the idea that God might move in miraculous ways, even if they don't embrace movements like Bentley's. And, he offered specific advice to non-Christians who may be confounded by such reports: "I'd hope they wouldn't get distracted by movements that seem odd, or by how goofy Christians can be, so that they miss seeing Jesus as the most beautiful, good, loving, just, true, person there is."

COLUMBUS, NEW MEXICO – We received some passionate reader responses to the blogs I wrote recently about American-born children who live just south of the border in Palomas, Mexico, crossing into the United States to attend American schools. 

An important point of these stories was that these kids face the threat of violence, because of a vicious turf war between Mexican drug traffickers in the area. It's so bad that U.S. officials and Luna County sheriff's deputies are quite concerned about protecting the children as they come and go across the border.  

While many readers expressed concern for the well-being of those children, others questioned how children living in Mexico could attend school in the United States and who pays. "They live in Mexico and should go to school in Mexico," wrote one person. "And who's paying the school taxes for these families' children to attend American schools? What a sham," said another.

VIDEO: Border town violence threatens school kids

At the U.S. Port of Entry at Columbus, New Mexico, about 400 elementary, middle school and high school students show up each day from Palomas carrying U.S. passports and birth certificates along with their text books. They were born in the United States, and are legally U.S. citizens. For a variety of reasons, mostly because of economics or the immigration status of one or more of their parents, they live in Mexico.

To learn more about why these children are educated in the United States and who pays for that schooling, I spoke with the Columbus Elementary School principal, Hector Madrid, a decades-long educator and school administrator in southern New Mexico.

"First of all, we have to take into account that all of these kids are American citizens," he said. "By federal and state law, they have the right to be educated here in the United States. That's our responsibility." Teachers have no choice in this matter, he explained. American kids are guaranteed an American education by law.

NBC News

Hector Madrid, the Columbus Elementary School Principal, speaks with NBC News.

On the other hand, Mexican-born children can only attend Columbus schools for one year, Madrid explained, and only if their parents pay a tuition fee of about $3,600. After that, they must complete their educations in Mexico.

Madrid insisted there are great benefits to educating the American-born children in the United States, even if they currently live in Mexico.

"I would say 95 percent to close to 100 percent of these kids that are educated here on this side of the border, in the United States, will stay here after they graduate from high school," he said.  "And the majority of these kids will go on to be really strong students with their university studies."

Many of Madrid's students have become teachers in bilingual U.S. communities. He said a lot of them with good math skills have become engineers. "I know a couple who have grown up to be doctors," he said. "They grow up to be very productive citizens once they get their education here in the United States."

The attendance averages in Madrid's school are quite high – about 96 percent. Mexican parents, he said, are very involved in their children's schooling and insist they show up on time to attend class. 

"They want their kids to get a good education and they make it a point to make sure they're here on a daily basis" he explained. "They don't want them struggling as they've struggled with their lives."

As for who pays for their education, Madrid said the money largely comes from New Mexico property tax assessments. Some Mexican parents, he said, do have properties in the U.S. and pay taxes.

Those Mexican parents who don't own property in the United States don't pay for schooling directly. The principal, however, said that many do contribute indirectly to state coffers through sales taxes.

"The majority of these people come across the border to buy their groceries, their clothes and items that they need for their households," he added.  "So they are contributing to the American tax base by shopping here."

Madrid argues that, whatever the cost, it is important to teach these children, calling it "a very worthwhile investment in the future of our country."  He said it not only educates future U.S. residents, the effort generates goodwill and strengthens the social and business ties between U.S. and Mexican border communities.

"We're all going to benefit from this," said Madrid. "The bottom line is the more people we educate, the better off we're all going to be."

Read Mark Potter's original blogs:
Field Notes: Border officials fear growing Mexican drug war
Daily Nightly: Border kids caught in drug war

ARLINGTON, Va. – While America was enjoying the Memorial Day weekend, 15-year-old Megan Conley was learning how to cope with the death of her step-father, Army Sgt. 1st Class James Stoddard Jr., who was killed three years ago in Afghanistan.

Courtesy TAPS

Megan Conley sends up a balloon that reads "I miss you" to her step-father.

Megan spent the weekend at the Good Grief Camp, a unique camp created 14 years ago for families trying to deal with the loss of a loved one in the military.

"I didn't want to come because I just thought it would be really boring and they'd just sit around and talk in a big circle," said Megan, a 10th grader from Crofton, Md. "I mean, they do, but only once, and you get to play and have activities and you go places and it's really fun."

The 300 children at the camp attended concerts and parades, visited Arlington National Cemetery and other memorial sites, and released balloons heavenward to their lost parent. Megan's balloon read simply, "I miss you."

But the most important thing they did was spend three days with other kids who were going through the same problems as they were.

"I made a lot of new friends, and it's good to have a lot of people who understand you because when you're at home, people say they understand, but you don't know if they really do," said Megan. "It's really a good experience. I'm coming next year."

So is her 3-year-old sister, Makenzie, and 5-year-old brother, James.

"My little brother is crazy about camp," said Megan. "If it doesn't start until like 8, he wakes up at like 6 o'clock and jumps in the bed and tries to get everyone up to go because he's so excited to go. And my little sister likes it a lot, too."

Three happy campers, trying to cope with life's adversities.

 

COLUMBUS, N.M. – Talking with officials in this high-desert town, it doesn't take long to understand just how concerned they are over the widespread violence south of the border, which they can't control.

From the American side of the U.S. Port of Entry in Columbus you can actually look down the streets of Palomas, Mexico – the town is that close. The problem is that Palomas, along with other Mexican cities, has fallen victim to a vicious turf war between rival Mexican drug cartels that has claimed about 4,000 lives since the start of last year. Among those assassinated are high-ranking Mexican police officials.

In tiny Palomas, some 40 people have died in drug shootouts so far this year. The residents live in fear of getting caught in the crossfire and spend much of their time indoors. Recently, all of the town's police officers resigned and the police chief sought political asylum in the United States, claiming his life was in danger. Victims shot up in Palomas are often brought to the border in the hope they'll be treated in American hospitals.

VIDEO: Border town violence presents dangers for school children

Â

Watching all this from Columbus, Luna County Sheriff Raymond Cobos told us he is worried the Mexican drug war could spread. "My big concern, and the concern of most officials here, is that it's going to spill over into the United States, into this community," he said.

The mayor of Columbus, Eddie Espinoza, is also keeping a close eye on Palomas, which he used to frequent. Now he is more cautious and fears that, in retaliation for recent killings there, even more gunfire could erupt, perhaps on his side of the border.

"I believe it will get much worse than it is now," he said. "I think we haven't seen the boiling point. I think we're still waiting for that to come." 

Everyone is worried that something could happen to any of the 400 American-born children who live in Palomas but cross the border daily to go to school the United States in either Columbus or Deming, New Mexico. Early on weekday mornings they all walk to the U.S. border station, clear immigration, board yellow school buses and then head north to class. All of these children are American citizens, carrying with them either a U.S. passport or a birth certificate.

Not long ago, the grim possibilities in that scenario came into clear focus when shots rang out along the Mexican side of the border fence, just as children were getting off a bus to go home. 

Stephanie Himango / NBC News

U.S. Customs and Border Protection guards on duty in Columbus, New Mexico.

Sheriff Cobos was standing watch near the border crossing when it happened. "We had to take immediate steps to stop the children, turn that bus around, shut this highway down and try to coordinate with the Border Patrol to provide security for the immediate area here."

Now, whenever the buses load or unload, sheriff's deputies are assigned to keep an eye on the children. After a particularly violent weekend in Palomas, in which seven people were killed in two shootouts, heavily-armed federal officers were assigned to provide protection.

As for the children, many are fully aware of the violence breaking out near their homes. "At night we get scared 'cuz we hear all kinds of shooting," said one boy at the bus stop.  "They're killing people around us," added a girl as she walked back toward Palomas. "You can hear it when it happens."

Stephanie Himango/NBC NewsÂ

With increased drug violence over the border in Palomas, Mexico, police from the Luna County Sheriff's office and New Mexico State Police stand guard while a young student goes back and forth to school.

School officials say attendance among these children, which normally is quite high, has fallen off since the violence escalated. At the Columbus elementary school, principal Hector Madrid has brought in counselors to help teachers address the children's fears. "They're exposed to this daily," he said. "They've come with feelings on their shoulders and we have to deal with it and work with them."

Meanwhile, Mexican President Felipe Calderon vows to defeat the traffickers and has deployed 24,000 troops to fight them. And in Congress a passionate debate rages over how much the United States should do to help.

Watching all this unfold from his vantage point, Cobos grows more concerned. "For us, it's a tragedy just waiting to happen. I want to do everything I can to eliminate that possibility."

 SAN ANGELO, Texas – They really do look younger.

As the first round of individual hearings for mothers from the Yearning For Zion ranch continue in San Angelo, perhaps the most interesting fact to emerge is that many women from the polygamist sect look much younger than their actual age.

More than 460 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ranch were shipped out of San Angelo's Coliseum last month and scattered to foster care facilities across the state. 

Officials from Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) said at least 31 of the mothers, or pregnant "girls," in state custody were underage. That number, they conceded, included 26 women/girls whose ages were "in dispute."  The women told CPS officials they were adults, and claimed they had documentation to prove it, but investigators insisted that they "looked like minors," so they were kept in custody.

Fast forward to this week, where judges are holding status hearings on the cases. Unlike prior court proceedings before, when a judge considered all of the families together in one giant, chaotic hearing, these hearings are happening on a "per mother" basis. After just the first two days of hearings, the number of alleged underage mothers has dropped dramatically, from 31 down to 23, and it could keep falling.

Turns out, many of the "disputed" minors are adults after all, a point CPS hasn't conceded until now. One of the "girls" is actually 27 years old.

Only a handful of the 168 mothers involved in the case have had their individual hearings so far – they will all be complete by June 4. Many of the "disputed" mothers are still due court hearings. One has to wonder how many more "child brides" will turn out to be adults before this is all over.

It's an important point, because CPS investigators justified escalating the April 3 raid, and ultimately the removal of every child, based on their observations once they entered the ranch for the first time in response to a call for help. 

They claimed to have seen numerous underage mothers and pregnant minors while searching for an alleged 16-year-old victim of sexual abuse named "Sarah." Sarah, was officially considered to be a real person until Monday, when CPS dropped her court case, acknowledging that she doesn't actually exist. State police are now investigating the calls for help from "Sarah" as hoax phone calls, made by an adult from Colorado with a history of making false reports.

All along, residents on the ranch have claimed the widespread pattern of underage marriage alleged by CPS investigators simply isn't true. Sect members have conceded that there may have been a few cases of minors being "spiritually married" and conceiving children, but they say that's the exception, not the rule.

Women on the ranch, they've suggested, simply look young, because they don't wear makeup, and their all-natural diet keeps their skin healthy. They avoid almost all processed foods and all of their dairy products come from their own cows – cheese, butter and unpasteurized milk.

A couple of other interesting points have emerged so far:

Despite the judge who ordered the removals asking the state to do everything possible to keep children from the same families together in foster care, many parents say their children are scattered across the state. Several are spending hundreds of dollars, driving thousands of miles each week to visit children that are up to 900 miles apart.

Also, many parents are complaining that their children have had religious texts taken from them, specifically, The Book Of Mormon. 

CPS workers say they've only taken texts that include pictures of Warren Jeffs, the jailed leader of the FLDS sect. They say it would be inappropriate for children to have pictures of Jeffs (he's the father of several in custody) because he's been convicted of a sex crime. CPS says it's given the kids replacement texts that don't include the photos.

And a bit of breaking news:

Today, CPS workers attempted to gain to access to the ranch to search for more children they believe may be living there, but they were turned away by ranch residents who said they didn't have a proper warrant.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – We're on the road in Indiana, talking to motorists about the rising cost of gas – which according to the latest Lundberg survey is up 15 cents a gallon over the past two weeks.

At Joe's Junction, a busy gas stop in Indianapolis regular gas goes for $3.71 a gallon and diesel tops $4.04 a gallon – about 9 cents higher than the national average.

It cost us about $48 to fill up the Mean Green Machine – our satellite transmission vehicle –which is a midsize hybrid-SUV.

Down the road at a Pilot truck stop in Pendleton, Ali Wolfe has seen the prices climb quite a bit during her six years behind the counter.

"I can remember when it cost a buck a gallon," she said. "Business hasn't dropped off any, but folks gripe a little more about the price. We pay more too you know, they're not alone, I'll tell you that."

It's all relative. They could be driving in San Francisco or Honolulu where gas cost even more.

 WASHINGTON - The Super Bowl football heroes brought their own special hero with them to the White House for their meeting with President Bush. 

Army Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, who lost both legs in Iraq and later gave the New York Giants a pep talk that helped propel them to the Super Bowl, stood among the Giants players on his prosthetic legs and listened yesterday as President Bush singled him out for praise.

"I'm proud to be on the stage with this man," said the president. "He has got the Purple Heart and three Bronze Stars, and now he's got a Super Bowl ring minted for a true giant."

AP

President Bush shakes hands with Lt. Col. Greg Gadson, the New York Giants inspirational co-captain, on the White House South Lawn on April 30 as quarterback Eli Manning looks on.Â

After his remarks, the president stopped and bantered for a moment with Gadson.

"He really just thanked me," Gadson told me today. "It was a genuine thanks, and he told me I was a good man and he was proud of me."

Gadson's journey from the battleground in Iraq to the South Lawn of the White House began on May 7 of last year when a roadside bomb tore apart his legs on a street in Baghdad. I first met him on Sept. 12 while he was recuperating at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"I've been here a little over four months," he told me at the time, "and I've been on my feet for a little bit, and I'm making steady progress, so that's all I can ask for."

Ten days later, Gadson was asked by Mike Sullivan, a former football teammate at West Point and an assistant coach for the Giants, to speak to the 0-2 team before its game against the Washington Redskins.

"I just talked to them about life," said the former Army defensive end and linebacker. "I talked to them about their obligation as professionals to do their best."

The Giants went out the next day and upset the Redskins, 24-17. New York turned its season around and reeled off six straight victories and a record 10 straight road wins.

"If he wasn't with us at games, he'd call us and talk to the team beforehand," Giants quarterback Eli Manning said after yesterday's White House ceremony. "He's become a good friend to all the Giants."

Getty Images

President Bush stands with members of the Super Bowl XLII Champion New York Giants during an event to honor the team on the South Lawn of the White House on April 30. Â

Gadson gave the Giants another pep talk before their stunning 17-14 upset of the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

"I told them you have to play together as a team and believe in each other," he said.

I asked Manning what Gadson has meant to the Giants.

"Greg has just been an unbelievable inspiration to this team," said Manning. "He has a wonderful outlook on life. And still, everything he's been through, his spirits are high. He loves to laugh and smile and he's just a joy to be around."

I asked the 42-year-old Gadson what the Giants and their Super Bowl run meant for him.

"They've been part of my healing process, just being able to interact with them," Gadson said. "I mean, I'll tell you, the difference between me talking to them in September and in February was that I was still struggling to get on my feet, fighting through and working through and just trying to get myself better."

One soldier, one football team, two class acts.