• 'We're all devastated': Americans killed in 747 crash mourned

    Family members in Michigan mourn the loss of crew members killed in cargo plane crash near Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. WDIV's Chauncy Glover reports.

    By Corey Williams, Jeff Karoub and Joan Lowry, The Associated Press

    Jamie Brokaw was an experienced navigator who was no stranger to dangerous flying situations and had the skills to stay cool in the face of danger, according to close friend Chris Connerton.

    "He was a very good person and very smart person," Connerton told The Associated Press by telephone from Rochester, Minn.

    Brokaw, 33, of Monroe, Mich., was among seven Americans killed Monday when their National Air Cargo plane crashed near an Air Force base in Afghanistan. Six of the victims were from Michigan and a seventh was from Kentucky, said Shirley Kaufman, National Air Cargo vice president.

    Connerton said Brokaw was a key reason he was able to make it through flight school in Jacksonville, Fla., where they met.

    Connerton also described a harrowing flight two years ago from Toledo, Ohio, to an international flight expo in Lakeland, Fla. Connerton said ice had built up on the plane to the point that he could no longer get it to climb.

    "If it wasn't for Jamie's navigation and know-how ... we wouldn't have made it," Connerton said.

    Killed along with Brokaw in the Afghanistan crash were Gary Stockdale, 51, of Romulus, Mich.; pilots Brad Hasler, 34, of Trenton, Mich., and Jeremy Lipka, 37, of Brooklyn, Mich.; first officer Rinku Summan, 32, of Canton, Mich.; loadmaster Michael Sheets, 36, of Ypsilanti, Mich.; and maintenance crewman Timothy Garrett, 51, of Louisville, Ky.

    Building model planes and working on real ones comprised Stockdale's passion, filling the family's basement with models in his youth, jumping into aviation as a career at age 16 — and later working at two Detroit-area airports.

    Stockdale also knew the dangers of flying, his older brother said Tuesday.

    "He always said it was dangerous," said Glenn Stockdale, 55. "He would always say, 'You either will die in a car crash or a ball of flame in a plane.'"

    AP / Courtesy Stockdale Family

    Gary Stockdale, 51, of Romulus, Mich., was killed in a cargo plane crash on Monday.

    Lipka had flown in Iraq as well as Afghanistan and had close calls before, said his stepfather, Dave Buttman.

    "There was risk there all the time. He knew the risks. He volunteered to take the trips," Buttman told the Star Tribune of Minneapolis. "Basically, you're taking your chances flying in there and he was just happy to be one of the pilots to do it."

    The Dubai-bound Boeing 747-400 — operated by National Air Cargo — crashed just after takeoff Monday from Bagram Air Base around 11:20 a.m. local time, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement Tuesday.

    The accident site is within the perimeter of Bagram Air Base.

    The Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for downing the plane, but NATO said the claims were false and there was no sign of insurgent activity in the area at the time of the crash.

    The Afghanistan Ministry of Transportation and Commercial Aviation is leading the investigation. The NTSB is investigating the crash alongside the ministry. The team will be composed of three NTSB investigators, as well as representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, the NTSB said.

    Kaufman said the plane — owned by National Airlines, an Orlando, Fla.-based subsidiary of National Air Cargo — was carrying vehicles and other cargo.

    Elena Garrett, of Jeffersonville, Ind., just across the Ohio River from Louisville, said ex-husband Timothy Garrett would have turned 52 on Saturday. They have two daughters together, ages 11 and 12.

    "We're all devastated," Elena Garrett said about his death. "We were still best friends. He's the best father I've ever seen (and) ready to help anybody. He would give the shirt off his back for anybody."

    Bill Hasler said his family learned Monday morning that his brother, Brad, was one of the crash victims.

    "Brad was a wonderful father to two young children, a beloved husband to a wife who is expecting another child, a loving son, and the most loyal and supportive brother I could have ever asked for," Bill Hasler said in a statement. "His influence in the lives of all of us who loved him is immeasurable, and our grief is indescribable."

    National Airlines was based until recently at Michigan's Willow Run Airport, west of Detroit. It carries cargo both commercially and for the military, Kaufman said. She said the company employs about 225 people.

    Summan had worked 2½ years for National Air Cargo, said his wife, Rajnit Summan.

    Rajnit Summan said she last spoke to her husband Sunday.

    "I told him to be safe," she said.

    This story was originally published on Wed May 1, 2013 4:31 AM EDT

  • White House-backed jobs-for-vets program crushes goals

    By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

    American companies have hired or trained more than 290,000 veterans and military spouses since the White House announced its "Joining Forces" campaign two years ago, and U.S. employers now have committed to supplying jobs to another 435,000 veterans over the next five years, Michelle Obama announced Tuesday.

    The hires to date mean that Joining Forces — led by the first lady and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden — has, with eight months to spare, nearly tripled its original goal to connect 100,000 unemployed veterans to paychecks by the end of 2013. 


    "We know that today is not the finish line," she said. "Today is simply just a mile marker. And we’re not going to stop until every single veteran or military spouse that is searching for a job has found one."

    "Across America and all around the world, our men and women in uniform and their families are standing up for us ... And in so many ways, all they’re looking for is another way to serve. All they need is that next mission. All they need is a job," she said. "You live in a grateful nation. And people will stand up." 

    According to the Department of Labor, there were 783,000 veterans without jobs at the end of March. The unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans was 9.2 percent at that time compared to the civilian unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, federal figures show. 

    Companies vowing to churn up more jobs for veterans and military spouses during the next five years include: BNSF Railway (5,000 hires), UPS (25,000), Home Depot (55,000) and McDonald's (100,000), Michelle Obama said.

    "Walmart is telling any veteran who has served honorably, if they want a job in the year after they separate from service, Walmart is going to hire them, and their goal is to do it within 30 days of the veteran’s application," she added. 

    Complicating matters, however, are two military trends that soon may raise the current pace of veteran joblessness: More than 34,000 service members will be returning from Afghanistan during the next 12 months. In addition, President Barack Obama said Tuesday that "more than 1 million service members are going to be transitioning back to civilian life in the coming years," as the U.S. Armed Forces downsize. 

    "Unfortunately, when they hit the job market, employers don’t always recognize the high-quality, high-tech skills our newest veterans have gained in the military," President Obama said. "They don’t understand the leadership they have shown under extraordinary circumstances. Too often, just when these men and women are looking to move forward in the next chapter of their lives, they’re struck in neutral, scraping together odd jobs just to paid the bills.

    "If you can lead a platoon in a war zone," he added, "then I think you can lead a team in a conference center."

    Related:


     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • 'Ready to die for my new country': Gaining quick citizenship in combat boots

    David Friedman / NBC News

    Oumama Kabli, center, celebrates becoming a U.S. citizen during a naturalization ceremony on April 15 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Kabli, 19, is a private in the Army National Guard and entitled to become a citizen without the normal five-year residency requirement because of her military service.

    By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

    This story is part of NBC News’ series “Immigration Nation,” an in-depth examination of immigration in America.

    A wartime edict to entice immigrants to join the military in exchange for rapid naturalization has created 83,000 new American citizens. But one critic worries the initiative will become permanent — or perhaps even expand — essentially outsourcing more U.S. combat jobs and, he argues, injecting the armed forces with an increased security risk.  

    Launched via a 2002 executive order by President George W. Bush, the program lets green-card holders who enlist in the U.S. armed services bypass the typical five-year residency rule and apply immediately for citizenship at no fee. More than 10 percent of such naturalization ceremonies have taken place in 28 countries abroad, including 3,412 in Iraq, 2,102 in Japan and 1,134 in South Korea, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS, which administers the process.

    In 2008, a one-year pilot program – called Military Accessions Vital to National Interest (MAVNI) – was approved. The program allowed the armed services to tap non-citizens without green cards — here on temporary visas or under refugee or asylum status — to naturalize to help bolster branch needs for specific language or medical skills. “The initial pilot program ran through December 31, 2009 and had a cap of 1,000 total recruits for all services,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Nate Christensen told NBC News.

    Last May, the program was brought back for an additional two years with a cap of 1,500, he said. Thus far, the Army has enlisted fewer than 600 soldiers, and no other branch has used the MAVNI authority.

    “I feel like I’m living the American dream,” said Oumama Kabli, 19, who was naturalized April 15 during a ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

    Born to a Moroccan mother and raised in Canada, she moved with her mom to Virginia to finish high school and attend college. She’s now an Army National Guard private with plans to enter officer training. (Only U.S. citizens are eligible to become commissioned officers). A Muslim, Kabli believes “it’s an advantage for the Army to have people familiar with the religion or the culture” when troops deploy to predominantly Muslim nations.

    'Citizenship meant everything'
    Just as her Moroccan stepfather did in 2004.

    “I actually left (Army) basic training, got my naturalization on Friday and was on the plane to Iraq on Saturday morning,” said Youssef Mandour, 31, who worked as a translator, reaching the rank of sergeant. He pulled a second tour of Iraq from 2009 to 2011, working on reconstruction efforts for the State Department.

    “Citizenship meant everything. At that point, I was ready to die for my new country,” added Mandour, who arrived from Morocco on a tourist visa at age 17. Today, he owns a defense contracting company in Virginia. “I’m so proud of Oumama. By making her a U.S. citizen it’s going to create that diversity we’re missing in Iraq and Afghanistan. She will be more received by (Muslim) nations than the normal officers from, say, Alabama.”

    Source: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

    Ending the current naturalization-through-service program would require a new White House executive order, said USCIS spokesman Daniel Cosgrove. All military candidates must pass brief civics and English language tests and then undergo background checks for serious criminal histories or possible affiliations with terrorist groups.

    “The thing I’m concerned about is not what’s happening now in the military but what could happen if the Pentagon and politicians get too enamored of this idea of non-citizens joining the military,” said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C., that advocates tighter immigration policies.

    The White House won’t rescind the 11-year program, Krikorian predicts, even after the scheduled 2014 pullout of American troops from Afghanistan, and “it will become a de facto feature of military life.” Further, that immigrant pipeline may be enlarged, he added, “if we open up the officer corps to non-citizens.” In that scenario, he foresees many foreign students joining in order to stay in America permanently.

    Slideshow: Your newest fellow Americans

    John Moore / Getty Images

    Nearly 700,000 immigrants take the step to U.S. citizenship each year. Meet some of those who have just become part of that select group: Americans.

    Launch slideshow

    'All bad things can start small'
    But if global events transpire that compel the branches to rapidly expand their ranks, he also can imagine a scenario in which the military perhaps further loosens the rules, allowing foreigners abroad to enlist and serve by dangling citizenship as “their compensation.”

    "You have the real possibility of soldiering becoming a job that Americans won’t do — just like the Roman empire, not to get too melodramatic about it," Krikorian said. "That’s not something that’s around the corner. But all bad things can start small."

    An armed force composed of a far higher share of noncitizens also could boost the security risks for all soldiers and intelligence officers, he added. 

    "Being an immigrant or from a recent-immigrant family just adds an additional layer of concern, as we saw with Maj. Nidal (Hasan), the Fort Hood shooter, or Army veteran Ali Mohamed, one of the leaders of the (1998) African embassy bomb attacks," Krikorian said. "The vulnerability to blackmail also increases if the target has family members outside the U.S. who can be threatened — drug cartels have used this tactic to compromise Customs or Immigration agents with relatives in Mexico.


    "For the ordinary soldier, my main concern is still numbers. The question is: How many noncitizens are being recruited by the military, and are there any restrictions” on how many green-card holders and temporary visa holders can the armed forces approach in a given year?  

    'The U.S. is my new home'
    Pentagon spokesman Maj. Erik Brine responded: “We have no restrictions or limits on the recruitment of foreign nationals who are lawfully admitted for permanent residence.”

    Today, about 35,000 formerly foreign troops span active-duty, National Guard and reserve units, according to the Department of Defense. (That equates to 1.3 percent of the total force strength). The policy was first used during the Revolutionary War when the federal government allowed noncitizens to enlist and it was revived during the War of 1812, the Civil War and both World Wars.

    New U.S. citizens serve the modern branches in a variety of roles, including health care, languages, aviation, logistics and infantry. Christensen, the Pentagon's spokesman, said they "will continue to play a vital role in the U.S. Military."

    David Friedman / NBC News

    Oumama Kabli, right, celebrates with her mother, Sanaa Mandour, after becoming a U.S. citizen during a naturalization ceremony on Monday, April 15, at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.

    “I am excited that I get to be part of a nation that I’m serving,” said Oumama Kabli. “I’ll always be a Canadian at heart. But the U.S. is my new home, my new adoptive country. It has taken me under its wing. This is where I’m going to live my life.”

    “She got to see the process I went through. I’ve told her, ‘I used to be like you but I joined the service,’” added Mandour. “It’s like the iron that shines you up. She wants to help people. I told her that’s the best way that you can help people.”

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  • To Boston From Kabul With Love

    Courtesy Beth Murphy / Principle Pictuers

    A chicken vendor in Kabul, Afghanistan expresses sympathy for Bostonians after the marathon attack.

    By Ron Mott, Correspondent, NBC News

    KABUL – After more than three decades of war, you would think Afghans would be desensitized to violent attacks like the Boston Marathon explosion. A Boston-based documentary filmmaker found just the opposite.

    Instead of disregard, she found empathy among Kabul's residents for the three killed and more than 170 injured in the twin bomb blasts at the center of Boston 6,500 miles away. And she has the images to prove it. 

    In the wake of the attacks, Beth Murphy awakened Tuesday morning in Afghanistan to a confounding text message from her husband.

    "I thought at first I was re-reading my own message to him saying, 'Yes, I'm OK'," said Beth Murphy. She was referring to a text message she had sent her husband about a large-scale Taliban attack in western Afghanistan on April 3 that left more than 40 people dead.

    "But it said, 'It's OK, we're safe.' So I did a double-take.

    Courtesy Beth Murphy / Principle Pictures

    A man with a donkey carriage in Kabul, Afghanistan relates to the victims of violence in Boston.

    "I immediately went online before I even got back to him and saw what was happening in Boston, and [got] that overwhelming feeling of helplessness and sadness and feeling so far away. I thought, 'I'd really like to be home right now.'"

    Murphy's husband, Dennis, and 5-year-old daughter were fine. But as a runner who had felt the joy and pain of crossing the finish line of the Boston Marathon, she felt compelled to do something.

    In an effort to show solidarity with the city she calls home, Murphy set off for her day's work on a documentary project in Kabul armed with a simple sign she made that read: "To Boston From Kabul With Love."

    Courtesy Beth Murphy / Principle Pictures

    A bookseller in Kabul, Afghanistan expresses sympathy for Bostonians after the violent marathon attack.

    Her initial plan was to photograph herself holding the sign and post it online but reactions from Afghans to the unfolding tragedy in Boston prompted a change of plans.

    "As I started to talk with people here about what was happening, I saw the expressions on their faces change," she said. "They experience things like this here all the time. You might expect that they'd be desensitized to it or talk about it with a lack of compassion, but it was the exact opposite. There was this shared experience of pain and suffering, and the way people expressed that to me was really beautiful."

    Those expressions led Murphy to ask permission to photograph them holding her sign – a spontaneous idea that quickly spread around the world and went viral on the Internet.

    Beth Murphy, a Boston filmmaker currently in Kabul Afghanistan, was so moved by the marathon violence she wanted to send some love to her home city from 6,500 miles away. She explains the "incredible connection" and "shared experience of pain and suffering" Afghans expressed for Bostonians.

    Murphy published a series of black and white photos rich with the color of everyday life here: a bookseller crouched before his wares, a chicken vendor with a trio of whole fryer birds hanging over his shoulder, a little girl's largely expressionless face starkly contrasted by those of her shrouded female relatives in the distance.

    Courtesy Beth Murphy / Principle Pictures

    Beth Murphy, a Boston-based documentary film maker set out on the streets of Kabul after the Boston Marathon attacks with a simple sign that read: "To Boston From Kabul With Love." She was overwhelmed with the expressions of sympathy by Afghans for Bostonians.

    And the common thread binding the images and the people in them is a collective nod of empathy for the people of Boston.

    "I've been really overwhelmed by the response," Murphy said. "It certainly wasn't anything that I anticipated. I'm happy that the pictures resonated because I think they speak to a common humanity that we all share."

    Related links:

    What's next: The interrogation of the Boston bombing suspect

    Secret weapon: How thermal imaging helped catch bomb suspect

    Parents of suspects say their children were framed

    Family of dead suspect's wife: 'Our hearts are sickened'

    On social media, Tsarnaev's mixed religious fervor, whimsy

    Slain MIT officer's family mourns: 'Our only solace is Sean died bravely'

    Obama: 'We've closed an important chapter in this tragedy' 

    A nation cheers arrest of Boston bombing suspect

    Slideshow: Timeline of terror hunt and capture

    Boxing photos of dead Boston suspect revealed 

     

  • 'Not a death in vain': Kerry to meet parents of US diplomat killed by Afghan car bomb

    Smedinghoff family via Reuters

    Anne Smedinghoff, a 25-year-old diplomat from River Forest, Illinois, was killed along with four other Americans in a car bomb blast in Afghanistan on April 6.

    By Andrea Mitchell and Ian Johnston, NBC News

    Secretary of State John Kerry was due on Monday to meet the parents of Anne Smedinghoff, the American diplomat killed in a car bombing in Afghanistan earlier this month.

    Kerry was scheduled to meet them in Chicago after flying back from Japan following a six-nation tour in Asia dominated by the North Korean crisis.

    Smedinghoff, 25, was on her way to deliver books to a school in Qalat, Zabul province, when she and four other Americans were killed by a car bomb on April 6. An American civilian was also killed in a separate attack on the same day.

    Anne Smedinghoff, 25, was killed Saturday when a suicide car bomber blew up their convoy along with four other Americans. Although she recognized the dangers and risks in Afghanistan, her family and friends said she still loved the job. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

    Kerry, speaking in Tokyo, said that everyone he had met with in recent days in the State Department “feels this enormously.”

    “It's all the promise of a young person with all of the idealism and energy, enthusiasm suddenly snuffed out in the quest of high ideals and great values,” he said. 

    “I think that … is not a death in vain. It's a loss. It's a horrible loss. It's unfathomable as a parent,” he said. “But it's a great contribution and sacrifice for our country. And it is in the highest spirit of tradition and service of the State Department and the Foreign Service, and indeed of America, in our efforts to try to help other people be able to share in the blessings of life that we experience every day.”

    “So I think that people should celebrate her life and really show their respect for what she was trying to do,” he added. “She inspired a lot of people and even in her loss she's an inspiration.”

    Kerry met Smedinghoff, whose business card read "Assistant Information Officer," several weeks ago when she worked as his control officer during his recent trip to Afghanistan.

    Smedinghoff previously served in Venezuela.

    In an email to the Washington Post, Smedinghoff's parents said their daughter "was always looking for opportunities to reach out and help to make a difference in the lives of those living in a country ravaged by war."

    They added: "We are consoled knowing that she was doing what she loved, and that she was serving her country by helping to make a positive difference in the world."

    Related:

    'She was doing what she loved': Young diplomat among 6 Americans killed in Afghanistan

    'We have to go': Afghans ready to flee country as foreign troops withdraw

  • Hiring Our Heroes job fair part of week-long, national hiring push

    MSNBC's Richard Lui reports from the Hiring Our Heroes jobs fair in New York City, where veterans are seeking opportunities with companies as civilians.

    By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

    The math is mean. Post-9/11 veterans lug a steep unemployment rate that's a point-plus taller than the civilian rate. Add to that the 34,000 troops who soon will return from Afghanistan. Bottom line: The existing bulge of ex-military job seekers threatens to further swell in a world where stripes carry no sway. 

    How to crack that cold equation? Just a little face time, says unemployed veteran Ruty Rutenberg, who believes that simply standing eye-to-eye with a hiring manager allows former service members to naturally radiate the ocean of intangibles that can only be absorbed in combat. 

    "That presence, that aura about military people is very tough to see online in a resume, where (HR executives) are only looking at lines of text," says Rutenberg, 29, who served as an Army medic in Iraq, riding in Black Hawk helicopters. He's been searching for his "mainstay" career for about a year. "Online, it's tough to tell a person's emotions, let alone a person's energy.

    Ian Horn special for NBC News

    "Online, it's tough to tell a person's emotions, let alone a person's energy," said Ruty Rutenberg, 29, who attended a job fair in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

     

    "But when you get to be right in front of these people and interact with them, there is no trepidation for veterans in those moments. We've been in stressful situations that people can't fathom, that they've only seen in movies," Rutenberg said Tuesday at a job fair in Los Angeles sponsored by Got Your 6, an entertainment-industry-backed, national veterans campaign. NBCUniversal is a partner in that movement. 

    On Wednesday, Hiring Our Heroes — a program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation that aims to get veterans back into the work force — is hosting a hiring fair at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City.

    For veterans like Melissa Fay, a former lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, adjusting to civilian life and finding a job can be tough –  but after a few edits to her resume, Melissa landed a position with General Electric as a financial analyst. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.

    Click here for a list of upcoming Hiring Our Heroes job fairs.

    Both events are part of the Got Your 6 "veteran hiring week." Such events, Rutenberg believes, are critical for companies with spots to fill and veterans with bills to pay: "One of the things the military ingrains in us is how to be present and confident in the moment, really in any moment." 

    Still, owning that moment may require a touch of coaching, say some career counselors, who have spotted common, repeated flaws in the resumes and in interviewing skills of ex-service members.

    Humility 'can be damning'
    On paper, the mistakes typically involve the use of jargon: cumbersome acronyms, technical descriptions, and — to many civilians — the complicated system of military ranks. Is a "specialist" special? 

    MSNBC's Richard Lui, joins Andrea Mitchell Reports live from the Hiring Our Heroes Jobs Fair in New York and explains how the initiative is trying to help veterans market themselves better in the work force.

    "They feel: 'I've earned this rank. I want to make it prominent on my resume.' But that's one of the biggest complaints we hear from employers. They don't understand what 'sergeant first class' means," says Shareem Kilkenny, co-owner of Veteran Career Counseling Services. She operates VCCS with her husband, Kester Kilkenny, an Army veteran who spent time in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

    "What I have to get them to understand is: How do I translate their ranks and skills into the skills that employers are looking for? It might be better, for example, if a resume reads: 'Worked under extremely stressful conditions,' or 'Worked in a deadline-driven environment' or 'Dealt with constant change.' ”

    Jon Soltz of VoteVets.org, talks about the unemployment numbers about veterans and their spouses and shares his thoughts on the Hiring Our Heroes initiative.

    In addition to reading like a foreign language, militaryspeak may just get a veteran's resume tossed, warns Elizabeth Hruska, assistant director of career and internship services at the University of Minnesota. 

    "This can be a barrier to a civilian employer who needs to quickly understand the basics of you and your qualifications — and (emphasize) quickly: Employers tell us they spend only 10 to 30 seconds on that initial resume once-over," Hruska says. 


    While many veteran candidates may try to pitch themselves as the ultimate team players, some are prone to selling themselves short due to that group-first mindset, says Jason Dozier, veteran transition specialist with Hire Heroes USA, a nonprofit dedicated to creating job opportunities to veterans and their spouses through personalized employment training. 

    "Military members are very team-oriented, and the word 'individual' can be a euphemism for those who fail to be a productive member of that team," Dozier said. "And so tasks and accomplishments are more likely to be framed as 'we' rather than as 'I.' Humility is a great virtue, but it can be damning if you're looking to be competitive in the job market."  

    Related:

  • Rough landings: DOD, VA sluggish helping returning veterans, study says

    By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

    Nearly half of the 2.2 million U.S. troops who served in Iraq and Afghanistan have struggled to readjust to American life in part because the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs have been sluggish in helping those coming home in droves, according to a sweeping report released today.

    After examining veteran suicides and unemployment as well as the military’s handling of sex assaults, women in uniform and same-sex family issues, the Institute of Medicine said returning service members deserve “timely and adequate care,” yet it cited cases in which the DOD and VA are using unproven diagnostic and therapy tools.


    "The (federal) response has been slow and has not matched the magnitude of this population's requirements as many cope with a complex set of health, economic, and other challenges," said co-author Dr. George Rutherford. He chairs the IOM’s committee on the assessment of readjustment needs of military personnel, veterans, and their families. The IOM, an independent nonprofit, is the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences. 

    "The number of people affected, the influx of returning personnel as the conflicts wind down, and the potential long-term consequences of their service heighten the urgency of putting the appropriate knowledge and resources in place to make re-entry into post-deployment life as easy as possible,” added Rutherford, head of preventive medicine and public health at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine.

    Another 34,000 U.S. service members will be flown home from Afghanistan during the next 12 months. The high suicide toll among veterans (22 per day) has drawn recent Congressional scrutiny as have the elevated veteran-unemployment rate and access limits to VA mental health care. Congress requested the IOM study. 

    Among the recommendations within the 500-plus page report:

    • DOD and VA must “boost efforts to reduce the stigma” associated with service members or veterans simply asking for help to deal with mental-health issues or with substance-abuse problems.
    • The tool DOD uses to assess cognitive function following a head injury – Automated Neuropsychological Assessment Metrics (ANAM) — carries “no clear scientific evidence” to show that it works. That’s key because more than 200,000 U.S. troops have sustained traumatic brain injuries since 2000 — most non-combat-related. On March 5, Congressional members sent a letter to the chiefs of DOD and VA seeking data to investigate a new theory linking TBIs with the military’s suicide crisis.
    • One of the VA’s “first-line treatments for depression” — Acceptance and Commitment Therapy — similarly “lacks sufficient evidence” to show its efficacy.
    • Research has found that curbing access to lethal weapons prevents suicides, however, “DOD policy prohibits restricting that individual's access to privately owned weapons” — even if a service member is known to be at risk for suicide.
    • DOD and VA should link their databases so that the health records of all service members are available to track their medical conditions from the moment they enter the service through the day any future treatment is eventually rendered by a VA facility. 

    "These (recommendations) are meant to be helpful, meant to be more of a roadmap of how to pursue” these issues, Rutherford said. “These are extraordinary challenges that the systems are facing and they’ve gone to extraordinary efforts to try and work with them.

    'Demand is large'
    “Yeah, it can all be streamlined. Yeah, (the available help) can be matched better to the demands. Yeah, you can improve this stuff. But they are trying like crazy to make it match the demand,” he added. “The demand is large, and it’s growing.”

    Compared to past post-war generations, a higher percentage of returning Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans are using the VA for their health care — 56 percent of that population, according to the VA.

    "This report provides VA a better understanding of the difficulties some Veterans face as they readjust to home, reconnect with family members, find employment and return to school," read an email from Josh Taylor, a VA spokesman. "Greater collaboration with the Department of Defense (DoD) in the areas of research, treatment and clinical outcomes will further enhance continuity of care as service members transition from active to veteran status."

    Pentagon officials will examine the IOM’s suggestions, said Cynthia O. Smith, a DoD spokeswoman.

    “DoD appreciates IOM's hard work and will thoughtfully consider the study's key findings and recommendations,” Smith wrote in an email. She added that the agency’s Deployment Health Clinical Center “will work collectively with the VA to provide a joint response to Congress no later than June 2013.” 

    The IOM study reports that 44 percent of veterans have had "readjustment difficulties," 48 percent have dealt with "strains on family life," 49 percent have experienced post-traumatic stress, and 32 percent have felt "an occasional loss of interest in daily activities." Those figures were plucked from an earlier Pew Research Center survey. 

    "I’m not surprised (by those numbers), talking to my other buddies that have gotten out. I’ve got several buddies that still can’t find jobs but, to be honest with you, I think it's a factor of (their) motivation" to hunt for work, said Ryan Kriesel, 24, an Army tank operator who served two tours in Iraq. He's now a student at the University of Minnesota. He described his own transition as "pretty smooth." 

    When it comes to those younger veterans who report a flagging interest in daily life, Kriesel believes some of that may be due to the loss of the emotional rush that once came with combat. 

    "Part of it is being back in the civilian world," he said. "There’s not as much adrenaline going on as when you were overseas, out on combat missions several times a day."

    Related:

  • Hunt for bogus war heroes uncovers thousands of hoaxers

    By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

    During the past decade, some 4,000 men have been exposed while posing as combat warriors to fool women, scam federal benefits and reap undeserved praise. But the latest fake veteran to be uncloaked and convicted will carry an unofficial military rank to prison: “Captain Obvious.”

    Pinellas Country Sheriff's Office

    Danny Crane

    Danny Crane, 32, earned that colorful moniker from the man — an actual wounded veteran — who used his two basement computers and a loose, national network of fellow amateur sleuths to unravel Crane’s lies and ultimately hand him to federal prosecutors. Crane, who lived in the Tampa area, was sentenced March 14 to one year and one day in federal prison.

    “His uniform was all wrong. The discharge papers he posted online were wrong. His mannerisms were wrong. The only thing he had right were his tattoos. He was Captain Obvious,” said retired Army Staff Sgt. Fred Campbell, one of 10 veterans who operate a virtual detective agency called Guardian of Valor.

    “For four months, I was eating, sleeping and crapping Danny Russell Crane. My wife was getting sick of hearing about it,” said Campbell, who lives in Tennessee and has paralysis on one side, sustained as a result of his military service. He is not paid for his online investigation work. “Most of these guys do it for the hero worship. They see the accolades veterans get. So they just wake up one morning and say, ‘Hey, I was a member of the Black Sheep Squadron!’”

    Crane, who served less than three months in the Army — never in combat — conned the Department of Veterans Affairs out of $7,000 by claiming he was half blind, had once been shot in the back, suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and had 24 metal plates inserted in his face. In public, he routinely wore two Purple Hearts, a Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal — none of them earned. Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Kaiser said Crane concocted the persona of “the most decorated man in Florida.”


    “But in our world, the Danny Crane case is not unusual,” said Mary Schantag, a Marine widow who lives in Missouri and operates the Fake Warriors Project. Since launching that veteran-vetting venture on a shoe-string budget in 1998, Schantag said her nonprofit group — along with partners at similar sites — has revealed more than 4,000 hoaxers who falsely claimed military service or battlefield glory. It’s unclear how many of those 4,000 frauds later were prosecuted. A VA spokesman said such cases are not tracked by the agency.

    “We had 22 phonies in 1998. I can get 22 in 48 hours right now,” Schantag said. “It’s all day, every day.”

    Courtesy Guardian of Valor

    When Danny Crane appeared in public wearing Ray Ban sun glasses and a Class A Uniform, veteran-hoax hunters knew he was almost certainly a fake. That look is not military protocol. Crane was sentenced earlier this month to a year in federal prison.

    Yet she complained that federal and state agencies often choose not to pursue charges against the bogus veterans, saying: “The lack of prosecution and substantial penalties drives us all crazy.”

    'Out of sync'
    The Supreme Court last June struck down the federal Stolen Valor Act, which prohibited people from falsely claiming they had been awarded a military honor. A majority of justices ruled that invented battlefield brags should be protected by the First Amendment right of free speech. The behavior becomes criminal fraud, however, if the mock vets obtain money or gifts from charities or from the government by using their ruse.

    Like Campbell, Schantag is intimate enough with military protocol to be able to quickly spot imposters who may post their boasts on social sites like Facebook or who show up to speak at veterans’ ceremonies. For example, Crane simultaneously wore a Class A Uniform and Ray Ban sunglasses, which Schantag called “out of sync.”

    Courtesy of Mary Schantag

    Before his passing last year, Chuck Schantag, a Marine corporal wounded in Vietnam, spent more than a decade working with his wife to expose fake veterans.

    And like Campbell, she uses Internet background searches and files Freedom of Information Requests with government agencies to corroborate a suspicious veteran’s claimed history. She also taps her personal connections with Navy SEALS, Army Special Forces, even military chaplains to double check her detective work.

    “We make sure everything is square before we put these guys out there as frauds,” Campbell said. “We make sure they are 100 percent full of crap before we say anything negative toward them. We don’t do it to say, ‘Ha, Ha, I just took this guy down.’ We do it for the 18- and 19-year-olds who have lost every limb on their body but still go on.”

    Last year, Schantag’s husband, Chuck, a Vietnam veteran wounded in 1968, passed away. Ferreting out military scammers had become one of his life’s passions. He was trying to sniff out an apparent new fraudster when he died. That case remains under scrutiny.

    “He wanted history to be right,” said his widow. “He was a Marine through-and-through. For every lying Marine we found out there, that guy was messing up his Corps.”

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  • Obama urged to step in to fix VA backlog

    The numbers are staggering.  The Department of Veterans' Affairs estimates that within a month more than 1 million veterans will have filed for disability benefits -- and they'll all have to wait in line. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.

    By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

    The benefit-claims backlog that has ensnared nearly 600,000 younger veterans — many with war wounds — has reached a crisis point inside the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the hour has come for President Barack Obama to become personally involved in unclogging the quagmire, two of the nation's leading veterans advocates told NBC News Thursday. 

    "It’s time to go above the VA. If you think of VA as a broken down car, it’s hard for us to know how to fix it if we can’t see under the hood. The president can see under the hood. And the president can send people in to fix it," said Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq War veteran and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, which represents more than 200,000 people.


    "When you have so many men and women that are waiting years to see their claims adjudicated, there is a problem and it's somewhere within VA. And the president needs to take a personal interest," said Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. 

    Rieckhoff contends that Obama must answer a key question: With the overall claims tally surpassing 900,000 cases earlier this year and with 34,000 troops soon returning from Afghanistan, should VA Secretary Eric Shinseki be replaced? 

    In a meeting Wednesday with White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough, Rieckhoff said he told Obama's top advisor: "We need to hear it from the president" as to whether Shinseki should remain atop the VA.

    During a press briefing Wednesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said: "It is absolutely the president’s position that we need to aggressively address this problem, and he has made clear to Secretary Shinseki that he wants this addressed. He is getting weekly updates on the backlog."

    Responded Rieckhoff: "We’re focused on ending the backlog. What we need from the president is a plan to end the backlog. If (Shinseki's removal) is a part of that plan, we’d love to hear about it. The easy thing to do is fire some people. But that won’t necessarily fix things.

    "Yes, we need a cultural transformation (at the VA). We need new blood, new ideas," Rieckhoff added. "But three VA secretaries have been there and three VA secretaries have failed. That’s why we’re focused on the president. This is bigger than Shinseki."

    IAVA file

    "The backlog is the place where veterans end up feeling betrayed. When your claim is delayed 600 days, which is the case if you live in New York or L.A., you feel like your president and your country are letting you down," said IAVA's Paul Rieckhoff, photographed Thursday speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C.

    VA official urged to step down
    On Tuesday, Miller called for the resignation of Allison Hickey, the VA's under secretary of benefits. Miller is frustrated with Hickey, in part,  because she can not project where the backlog will stand in 12 months while she is simultaneously promising that no veterans will be waiting 125 days or more for their benefits by 2015. Miller said he fears that high-ranking VA officials have failed to reveal to Shinseki the real depth of the claims challenge and the scope of the financial hardships faced by hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans — many who are unable to work due to battle injuries.

    Asked Thursday if he believes Shinseki should resign, Miller said: "I am not prepared to ask the same of the secretary. He has a strong desire to do what is right. My fear is his leadership (team) has not been transparent with him to the point that he knows the true picture that exists out there." 

    This week, four other prominent veterans' groups — Student Veterans of America, The American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans (DAV) all voiced support for Shinseki and for the work being done by the VA's Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), which has handled claims for millions of veterans. Those groups argue that the VA's plan to cut the backlog should be given a chance to work.

    "DAV believes that VBA is on the right path, that they have set the right goals and that they have leadership committed to transforming and institutionalizing a new claims processing system to better serve veterans," DAV national legislative director Joe Violante testified Wednesday before a Senate panel examining veterans issues. 

    During 2012, the VA paid $58.6 billion in benefits to 4.3 million veterans or their survivors, according to the VA. The agency reported Thursday that its total "claims inventory" stands at 859,396. The VA defines its "backlog" as claims that have been pending for more than 125 days — that number stands at 592,222, according to the VA. 

    "Secretary Shinseki believes it is unacceptable that veterans are waiting too long to get the benefits they have earned," read a statement emailed by Josh Taylor, a VA spokesman. "That is why VA is implementing an aggressive plan that will solve this decades old problem for good and transform how VA processes claims for decades to come."

    But according to Miller, one factor fueling the backlog is that VA claims handlers are not working as efficiently as they did before the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 1997, the average VA field officer processed 138 claims a year while, in 2011, with three times as many overall employees, the average VA field officer processed 73 claims a year, Miller said. 

    "I have confidence at this time that (Shinseki) has a desire to move in the right direction. He leads an organization of 300,000 people that delivers some of the best health care in the world as well as educational benefits," Miller said. "But this benefits backlog, unfortunately, is going to be a stain that will stay with VA for years to come."

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  • US Air Force stops reporting data on Afghanistan drone strikes

    Ho / AFP - Getty Images

    Two freshly assembled Grey Eagle unmanned aerial vehicles sit on the tarmac at Forward Operating Base Shan in Logar Province, Afghanistan in April, 2012.

    By David Alexander, Reuters

    WASHINGTON - With debate intensifying in the United States over the use of drone aircraft, the U.S. military said on Sunday that it had removed data about air strikes carried out by unmanned planes in Afghanistan from its monthly air power summaries.

    U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Afghanistan war, said in a statement the data had been removed because it was "disproportionately focused" on the use of weapons by the remotely piloted aircraft as it was published only when strikes were carried out - which happened during only 3 percent of sorties. Most missions were for reconnaissance, it said.

    The debate over the use of drones in Afghanistan and elsewhere was triggered in part by U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to nominate his chief counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan, an architect of the drone campaign, as the new director of the CIA.

    The Air Force Times said air force chiefs had started posting the drone data last October in an attempt to provide more detail on the use of drones in Afghanistan.

    The University of Missouri's journalism school is the oldest in the country and now among the first to experiment with the new -- and controversial – drone technology. NBC's Thanh Truong reports.

    The newspaper said the statistics were provided for November through January, but the February summary released on March 7 had a blank spot where the drone data had previously been listed.

    "A variety of multi-role platforms provide ground commanders in Afghanistan with close air support capabilities, and it was determined that presenting the weapons release data as a whole better reflects the air power provided" in Afghanistan, Central Command said in its statement.

    "Protecting civilians remains at the very core of AFCENT's (Air Force Central Command's) mission," it said. "The use of all AFCENT aerial weapons are tightly restricted, meticulously planned, carefully supervised and coordinated, and applied by only qualified and authorized personnel."

    The statement said the decision to stop reporting the drone strikes was taken with the International Security Assistance Force - the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan.

    Brennan was sworn into office on Friday following a protracted confirmation battle that saw Senator Rand Paul attempt to block a vote on the nomination with a technical maneuver called a filibuster, in which he tried to prevent a vote by talking continuously.

    Paul held the Senate floor for more than 12 hours while talking mainly about drones, expressing concern that Obama's administration might use the aircraft to target U.S. citizens in the United States.

    Related:

    As drone furor ebbs, Senate confirms Brennan as CIA director

    McCain, Graham assail Rand Paul on drone policy

    Holder: No drone strikes in US, except in 'extraordinary circumstance'

    Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

  • Unemployment among post-9/11 veterans still running heavy

    By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

    The unemployment rate among younger veterans continues to outpace the share of out-of-work civilians with nearly one in 10 ex-service members from the Iraq and Afghanistan eras hunting for jobs, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    Younger male veterans are dragging a collective unemployment rate of 9 percent, compared to 7.6 percent in February 2012. Younger female veterans, who have faced far stiffer challenges grabbing civilian paychecks, posted an unemployment rate of 11.6 percent last month versus 7.4 percent at this time last year, the BLS said. 


    In raw numbers, 203,000 post-9/11 veterans were unemployed in February. One year ago that number totaled 154,000. Their overall unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in February. The U.S. unemployment rate last month was 7.7 percent, the Labor Department reports.

    “The problem of veteran unemployment should be seen as a national disgrace,” said Cleve Geer, national commander of AMVETS, a nonprofit veterans' organization.

    Many of those men and women possess — literally — battle-hardened skills, if not the ability to work under fire, yet some employers seem unable or unwilling to transfer those strengths into civilian jobs, veterans groups say.

    “It’s hard for me to believe that a guy can drive a truck in combat but he can’t drive one on the highways. I mean, what the hell is that all about?” said John E. Hamilton, commander in chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. “You’ve got a (medical) corpsman out there in field with Marines doing everything short of open-heart surgery but he can’t be an EMT when he gets home. Are you kidding me?”

    Yet the veteran-jobless rate soon may spike as sequestration forces federal agencies to hack budgets.

    “That's definitely sending shockwaves around our community,” said Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq War veteran and founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a nonprofit advocacy group representing more than 200,000 members.

    “One third of our members work in government some place. A lot are at the TSA, the Pentagon, and Homeland Security, working as civilians,” Rieckhoff said. “We also have a lot working in the contracting space.”

    'Everybody's worried'
    Among the 20 U.S. companies that hire and retain the most veterans — as ranked by G.I. Jobs — seven of those businesses cater strongly or even entirely to military personnel or federal agencies, including Booz Allen, a management consulting firm that holds contracts with the Pentagon, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Transportation.

    “Those (contracting) jobs for veterans are definitely going to be cut back some,” said Bob Tanner, a federally employed systems analyst and former Marine corporal who served in Iraq. He was unemployed from August 2006 until February 2007 after leaving the military. “There’s still a huge gap (in veteran-versus-civilian employment). But I think that gap is going to continue to grow if there’s a lot of layoffs.”

    Added Rieckhoff: “In our population, everybody’s worried.”

    In late February, however, his organization partnered with Futures Inc. and Cisco to launch an online employment tool called Career Pathfinder, which Rieckhoff vows, “can be the fuel injection that gets us to deeper impacts.” The free site helps translate specialized military skills to civilian jobs. It provides thousands of active job listings from employers who want to hire veterans as well as resume-building help and a career-mapping tool.

    For months, though, the employment landscape has become increasingly laced with online tools meant to connect veterans to jobs, including VetNet, rolled out last November by Google and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s “Hiring Our Heroes” program. Is this the innovation that finally breaks the stubborn logjam?

    “We hope so. It’s definitely got tremendous potential," Rieckhoff said.

    The blueprint, he added: “is taking what normally happens at a career job fair and using technology to do all that at greater scale. If you think about the overall numbers (of post-9/11 veterans), you’re talking about a couple hundred thousand people who are unemployed. So if we can get a couple thousand employed from this program, we can make a real dent.” 

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  • Marines go to cuisine extremes to win over locals

    Damir Sagolj / Reuters

    A U.S. Marine drinks the blood of a cobra during a jungle survival exercise with the Thai Navy as part of the "Cobra Gold 2013" joint military exercise, at a military base in Chon Buri province, Thailand.

    By Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor

    These beastly feasts exist somewhere between the hard edge of gunpoint diplomacy and the soft belly of “Man v. Food.”


    In Thailand, some Americans recently munched jungle grubs and guzzled snake blood alongside Thai military members. In Afghanistan, 13 U.S. men were invited by locals to slice the throats of goats, and they later reciprocated by offering steaming bowls of their own exotic fare: Ramen noodles.

    The common denominator: The U.S. Marine Corps.

    “We’re bred from the beginning to do what it takes to become one with the local populace and win over their trust,” said former Marine Sgt. Thomas Brennan.

    In 2010, while serving with a dozen other Marines and seven Afghan National Police members in the Musa Qala district, town members politely asked one of Brennan’s men to kill a goat — part of a sacred custom on a Muslim holiday. The Marine complied, spilling fresh blood on the street as nearby Afghani men chanted Muslim prayers. Later, the entire group shared cooked goat meat inside a small dwelling.

    “We were more than willing to be part of their culture because we had that team mentality that we needed to develop” with the Afghan National Police, Brennan said. “From there on out, we shared more dinners with them.”

    The same ethic led a group of Marines late last month to kill king cobras and drink the snakes’ blood in a Thai jungle as members of the Royal Thai Marines cheered. The event was part of an annual joint training exercise called Cobra Gold that teaches jungle-survival skills and other field exercises. 

    Units from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps — numbering about 9,500 service members — participated along with troops from Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, said First Lt. Gregory H. Carroll, a Marine Corps spokesman.

    “The jungle provides a number of animals and some are common to us like birds, fish and even some reptiles,” U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel A. Hernandez told dvidshub.net, a website that provides military-oriented content. “However, if you’re not a good hunter, there are smaller prey you can eat like insects, such as grasshoppers, cockroaches, scorpions, larva, worms and beetles.”

    In Afghanistan, the goat butchering came after the Marines had given some rice and bread to the town members as part of the Muslim holiday.

    “The Afghan National Police saw that we were caring about the locals when it came to the holiday and they invited us to their celebration. For the (police) commander and his higher echelon, it meant a lot and they were more willing to incorporate with us and share their culture,” Brennan said.

    But Marine food swaps can work both ways.

    Brennan’s unit offered the Afghan National Police members a few of the morsels that their families had sent from America: cans of Chef Boyardee pasta.

    The post-taste reaction among the Afghanistan locals may have mirrored the faces of the Marines who recently sipped snake blood in Thailand.

    “They thought,” Brennan said, “it was the grossest stuff in the world.”

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