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Sgt. Robert Bales and multiple tours of duty: How many is too many?

Twenty percent of active-duty Army troops are on at least their third tour of duty to a war zone. Sgt. Robert Bales, suspected of slaying 17 Afghan civilians, was one. Here's what's known about the dangers of repeated deployments.

  • By Anna Mulrine Staff writer

March 23, 2012 | Washington

The tremendous burden that battle places on soldiers – and the notion that it can push some to their breaking point – has long been one of the fatalistically accepted miseries of war.

During the Civil War, this breaking point was called, alternately, “soldier’s heart” and “exhausted heart.” In World War I, it was “war neurosis,” “gas hysteria,” and “shell shock.” Sigmund Freud had his own theory about the “inner conflict” between a soldier’s “peace ego” and its “parasitic double,” the “war ego.”

But the case surrounding Staff Sgt. Robert Bales , who stands suspected of gunning down 17 Afghan civilians – including nine children – in a murderous March rampage, is likely to spotlight the unique toll that repeated deployments to decade-long conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken on America ’s soldiers. 

Bales’s lawyer, John Henry Browne, has hinted that he will argue post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) played a role in his client’s alleged crime. “He doesn’t remember everything the evening in question – that doesn’t mean he has amnesia,” Mr. Browne told reporters. “There are lots of other options.”

Browne might argue, too, that it is the US military ’s fault for not properly treating the mental wounds of war of his client, who had deployed to Iraq three times before being sent – against his will, Browne has said – to Afghanistan.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has carefully disavowed Bales’s alleged crime as the lone action of a lone gunman, for which the Pentagon may well seek the death penalty.

But the Pentagon acknowledges, too, the stresses put on its force by repeated deployments. Some 107,000 Army soldiers have been deployed to war three or more times since 2001, or some 20 percent of the active-duty force. More than 50,000 of those currently in uniform have completed four or more combat tours, Army figures indicate.

America’s current conflicts “represent not only the longest wars fought by our Army, but also the longest fought by an all-volunteer force,” placing “tremendous and unique burdens on our soldiers and families as compared to the previous conflicts,” notes a wide-ranging study of soldiers’ mental health released by the Army earlier this year.

The study was particularly adamant that any attempt to view "soldier misconduct in isolation" necessarily "fails to capture the real likelihood that the misconduct was associated with an untreated physical or behavioral health condition, such as increased aggression associated with PTSD." 

That's because in some cases the burdens of repeated deployments have been greater than those troops had endured in World War II, the study warns. The average infantryman in the South Pacific “saw about 40 days of combat in four years” in contrast to a “persistently high” level of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, which has offered “very few opportunities for individuals to rest, either physically or mentally.”

The Pentagon has grappled with just how many deployments is too many. A 2010 study known as the “Red Book” discovered in those who had completed multiple tours “a growing high-risk population of soldiers engaging in criminal and high-risk behavior with increasingly more severe outcomes including violent crime.”

Precursors of this behavior, the study noted, were “combat-related wounds, injuries and illnesses; repetitive and lengthy separations, and broader economic conditions.” Bales’s lawyer might point out that his client struggled with all three.

Many troops wrestle with the strains of repeated trips to war zones. Tech Sgt. Bob Roberts has completed 15 deployments in 17 years since joining the Air Force’s elite pararescuers, who were most recently serving as a quick-reaction force for the final troops pulling out of Iraq. During the past four years, Roberts estimates he has been away from home more than 300 days a year. A former professional snowboarder, Roberts says the key to doing the job he loves is learning how “to keep your personal freakout at bay” amid violent chaos that sometimes requires “picking up pieces of people.”

He is quick to acknowledge that war has taken its toll. Roberts is on his fourth marriage. “I’ve chosen this over relationships – over everything else,” he says. The majority of pararescuers he began serving with, he adds, have turned violence inward and are now either “in jail, have a bullet in their head, or are drug abusers.”

Wary of painting a picture of every soldier who returns from war as wrestling with deep pathology, military officials stress that the majority of those who have served multiple tours have done so without committing crimes against civilians.

But they grapple with the simple soldierly reality that going into battle and all it entails necessarily cultivates aggressive behavior. What troops “have been through in the past 10 years requires more attention, more understanding – and it requires ways to channel that energy that we’ve encouraged them to have and bring to the fight – so that when they come back to the States, they don’t self-destruct,” says Lt. Col. Thomas Hanson, of the Office of Security Cooperation in Iraq (OSC-I).

Some try to create ad-hoc therapies. Lt. Col. Jonathan Downing, chief of doctrine and education at the OSC-I, witnessed the risk-taking behaviors that troops in his 800-person squadron would engage in upon their return from war. “We saw a lot of guys coming home, getting on sports bikes, and going crazy,” he says.

He and his colleagues decided to pay for motorcycle track days for those who seemed to “need that adrenaline” they had become accustomed to in combat. Risk-taking is “obviously a legitimate concern,” Downing says, “so we’re trying to use our influence to channel it.”

Just how the US military has chosen to cope with its war-sick has varied throughout history. Gen. George Patton , in one of the more notorious leadership moments of World War II, felt compelled to slap a crying 18-year-old soldier in a field hospital for being a “coward.”

Less remembered is the general outpouring of compassion that act prompted. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower sent a letter of reprimand to Patton, who had hit crying soldiers on more than one occasion, writes F. Don Nidiffer and Spencer Leach in a 2010 article published in Developments in Mental Health Law.

“I am well aware of the necessity for hardness and toughness on the battlefield,” Eisenhower admonished. “But this does not excuse ... abuse of the ‘sick.’ ” Congress concurred, stepping in to delay a command promotion for Patton.

Attempts have increased to understand war trauma and to use psychiatry to pinpoint which troops will suffer inordinately from what they have seen and done, but they remain primitive, military officials say. “There’s going to be lots of soul-searching and teeth-gnashing, but the reality is that we can’t tell when somebody is going to snap,” says Ronald Smith , director of psychiatry at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda , Md.

Dr. Smith recalls doing screenings for Antarctica missions. “I’m supposed to be pretty good at this, but you’d say that somebody’s going to have a terrible time, and they’d do great. Another guy you’d think would cruise through it would come apart,” he adds.

The bottom line is that war is a gruesomely powerful and ultimately unwieldy force that has the capacity to change the people who fight it in ways large, small, or negligible – but nearly always unpredictable. “Horrible, wretched tragedies that brook no understanding can in fact happen at war because you threaten people’s survival,” Smith, a Navy captain, says. The solution for preventing such tragedies, he adds, “is that our appetite for war should go away – and we should only do it when everything else fails.”

In the meantime, psychiatrists must often grapple in cases like Bales’s with “that sickening feeling [that] we don’t know and we can’t explain it,” he adds. “That will be up to a jury of his peers. But there’s not to my knowledge a neuropsychologist in the world who can say this was predictable.”

It is a frustration echoed by Gen. Peter Chiarelli , who, as the Army’s second-ranking officer, spearheaded the service’s mental-health outreach efforts until he retired this year. “We have no reliable diagnostics,” he says. “That was the frustrating thing for me for 3-1/2 years.”

Chiarelli, now chief executive officer for One Mind for Research, is pushing for collaborative research that he hopes will ultimately help troops who have been fighting the longest wars in American history. For now, however, the tools remain limited.

“The military is the only organization I know of that screens its people when they enter the service, before they deploy, while they are deployed, when they return, and six months after they return,” Chiarelli says. “If we had reliable tools, don’t people think we’d use them?”    

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How Long is a Tour of Duty? A Comprehensive Guide

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By Happy Sharer

average tours for marines

Introduction

A tour of duty is a period of service that a member of the armed forces is obligated to complete. This period of service is typically specified in terms of months or years and is usually undertaken as part of a larger military operation or deployment. The length of a tour of duty can vary significantly depending on the type of mission, the branch of the military, and other factors. In this article, we will explore the various types of tour of duty and their lengths in the US Armed Forces.

A Comprehensive Guide to Military Tour of Duty Lengths

The average tour of duty for members of the US Armed Forces is 12 months. However, there are several different types of tours of duty and different lengths associated with them. These include temporary duty assignments, permanent change of station (PCS) tours, and deployments.

Exploring Different Types of Tour of Duty and Their Lengths

Exploring Different Types of Tour of Duty and Their Lengths

Temporary duty assignments (TDY) are short-term assignments that usually last between one and three months. They may involve training, attending conferences, or other activities related to the individual’s job. TDYs are usually scheduled in advance and are not considered a full tour of duty.

Permanent change of station (PCS) tours are longer-term assignments that typically last between six and eighteen months. During a PCS tour, a service member is assigned to a new base or location for the duration of their tour. These tours are usually planned in advance and are considered a full tour of duty.

Deployments are typically the longest type of tour of duty and can last up to twelve months. Deployments involve being sent overseas to participate in military operations. Deployment lengths can vary depending on the nature of the mission and the branch of the military.

How Long is a Tour of Duty in the US Armed Forces?

The length of a tour of duty in the US Armed Forces depends on the branch of the military and the type of tour of duty. Below, we will explore how long is a tour of duty in the four main branches of the military.

In the Army, TDYs typically last between one and three months, while PCS tours usually last between six and eighteen months. Deployments can last up to twelve months, but they are usually shorter. The length of a deployment depends on the mission and the needs of the Army.

In the Navy, TDYs typically last between one and three months, while PCS tours usually last between six and eighteen months. Deployments can last up to twelve months, but they are usually shorter. The length of a deployment depends on the mission and the needs of the Navy.

In the Air Force, TDYs typically last between one and three months, while PCS tours usually last between six and eighteen months. Deployments can last up to twelve months, but they are usually shorter. The length of a deployment depends on the mission and the needs of the Air Force.

In the Marines, TDYs typically last between one and three months, while PCS tours usually last between six and eighteen months. Deployments can last up to twelve months, but they are usually shorter. The length of a deployment depends on the mission and the needs of the Marines.

In conclusion, the length of a tour of duty in the US Armed Forces can vary significantly depending on the type of mission, the branch of the military, and other factors. TDYs typically last between one and three months, while PCS tours usually last between six and eighteen months. Deployments can last up to twelve months, but they are usually shorter. Resources such as the US Department of Defense website can provide more information about tour of duty lengths in the US Armed Forces.

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Hi, I'm Happy Sharer and I love sharing interesting and useful knowledge with others. I have a passion for learning and enjoy explaining complex concepts in a simple way.

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Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Initial Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Military Personnel, Veterans, and Their Families. Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Preliminary Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Veterans, Service Members, and Their Families. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2010.

Cover of Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan

Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Preliminary Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Veterans, Service Members, and Their Families.

  • Hardcopy Version at National Academies Press

2 OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM AND OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM: DEMOGRAPHICS AND IMPACT

Since the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001, over 1.9 million US military personnel have been deployed in 3 million tours of duty lasting more than 30 days as part of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) or Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) ( Table 2.1 ). Those wars are fundamentally different from the first Gulf War and other previous wars (see Chapter 3 ) in their heavy dependence on the National Guard and reserves and in the pace of deployments, the duration of deployments, the number of redeployments, the short dwell time between deployments, the type of warfare, the types of injuries sustained, and the effects on the service members, their families, and their communities. Moreover, OEF and OIF together make up the longest sustained US military operation since the Vietnam War, and they are the first extended conflicts to depend on an all-volunteer military. This background chapter is divided into three sections. The first provides information about the demographics of the all-volunteer military. The second highlights some of the issues faced by the troops who have served in OEF or OIF and their families that are being reported in the popular press, government reports, and the peer-reviewed scientific literature. On the basis of available data, it is not known whether those issues are causally related to deployment, but the challenges confronting the troops and their families appear to be real, and Chapter 4 describes them in greater detail. The third section of this chapter provides a brief summary of the services that are available to meet readjustment needs of OEF and OIF service members, veterans, and their families when they return from theater. Chapter 5 describes in more detail the benefits and services and the programs that have been developed to meet those needs.

TABLE 2.1. .1 Service Members Deployed by Component as of April 30, 2009.

. 1 Service Members Deployed by Component as of April 30, 2009.

  • DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE ALL-VOLUNTEER MILITARY

Of the military personnel serving in OEF and OIF, 89% are men and 11% women. Nearly all troops who served in Vietnam were men (only 7,494 women served) compared with over 200,000 women serving in OEF and OIF (Jacobs, 2000; Tanielian and Jaycox, 2008). Today’s service members are also somewhat older 1 and more likely to be married than their Vietnam-era counterparts (Jacobs, 2000). The distribution of personnel ages varies among components of the military. According to the 2007 Demographics Report, over 40% of active-component officers are over 35 years old compared to 15% of active-component enlisted personnel (DOD, 2007). The numbers of active-component officers and enlisted members by age and service branch are summarized in Table 2.2 . Members of the Marine Corps have the lowest average age, 25.0 years, and the Air Force has the highest, 29.6 years. The reserve-component officers and enlisted members are much older than the active-component officers and enlisted members, respectively (DOD, 2007). Among reserve-component officers, 73.6% are over 35 years old compared with 44.2% of active-component officers. Similarly, 55.3% of the reserve-component enlisted members are 30 years old or younger compared with 72.6% of the active-component enlisted members. Table 2.3 summarizes the numbers of reserve-component officers and enlisted personnel by age group and service branch.

TABLE 2.2. Percentage of Active-Component Members by Age and Service Branch in 2009.

Percentage of Active-Component Members by Age and Service Branch in 2009.

TABLE 2.3. Percentage of Active-Component Members by Age and Service Branch in 2009.

Of service members serving in OEF and OIF, about 66% are white, 16% black, 10% Hispanic, 4% Asian, and 4% other race (Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, 2009) compared with 75% white, 12% black, 4% Asian, 9% other race, and 12.5% Hispanic of any race in the general population (US Census Bureau, 2000). During the Vietnam War, of the roughly 3.4 million service members who were deployed (one-third of them through the draft), close to 90% were white (Summers, 1985).

Marital status also differs somewhat by component and service branch. Of the active-component force, 55.2% are married (DOD, 2007); the Air Force has the highest proportion of married members, 60.6%. Senior enlisted and senior officers are also more likely to be married. In addition, 6.7% of active-component military personnel are reported to be married to other military personnel (dual-military marriages); again, the Air Force has the highest percentage, 12.8% (DOD, 2007). A higher percentage of female military personnel is in dual-military marriages than males: over 26% of female Marine Corps members and 30% of female Air Force members are married to members of the military. In the most recent DOD demographic report, about 3% of those who indicated that they were married in 2006 were divorced in 2007.

Among the reserve-component members, 49% are married. The proportion of members reporting to be married varied by service component: the Air Force reserve reported the highest percentage, 60.6%, and the Marine Corps reserve the lowest, 30.8%. As in the active component, senior enlisted and senior officers were more likely to be married (DOD, 2007).

Some 43% of active-component members have children, two on the average. 1 Similarly, reserve-component members who have children have an average of two. The breakdowns of active-component and reserve-component members with children by service branch are summarized in Table 2.4 . About 5% of active-component members are single and have children. (In comparison, according to the US Census, 17% of US households were single-parent households in 2007.) In addition, another 3% are dual-military with children. The largest percentage of minor dependents of active-component members is 5 years old and younger (41%); in the reserve component, the largest percentage is children 6–14 years old (DOD, 2007). The distributions are shown in Figure 2.1 .

TABLE 2.4. Active-Component Members with Children by Service Branch in 2007.

Active-Component Members with Children by Service Branch in 2007.

(A) Age of children (active component); (B) Age of children (reserve component). SOURCE: DOD, 2007.

Over 1.1 million active-component members are stationed in the United States. Of them, 54.5% are in six states: California (12.9%), Virginia (11.4%), Texas (10.7%), North Carolina (8.4%), Georgia (6.0%), and Florida (5.1%) (DOD, 2007). Figure 2.2 illustrates the geographic distribution of states to which Army personnel return after deployment to OEF or OIF. The 10 states where the greatest number of reserve-component members reside are California (6.9%), Texas (6.4%), Florida (4.3%), Pennsylvania (4.2%), New York (3.6%), Georgia (3.5%), Ohio (3.4%), Alabama (3.1%), Illinois (3.1%), and Virginia (3.0%) (DOD, 2007). Figures 2.3 and 2.4 show the geographic distribution in the Army National Guard and Army Reserve, respectively.

Counties of residence of deployed OEF and OIF Army (active-component) military personnel. SOURCE: Defense Manpower Data Center, 2009a.

Counties of residence of deployed OEF and OIF Army National Guard military personnel. SOURCE: Defense Manpower Data Center, 2009a.

Counties of residence of deployed OEF and OIF Army reserve military personnel. SOURCE: Defense Manpower Data Center, 2009a.

  • OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM AND OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM: UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS

In addition to differences from previous wars in the demographic composition of the current all-volunteer force, deployment to OEF and OIF has some unique characteristics. Because the number of troops in the active component of the military is smaller than in past conflicts, DOD has had to send military personnel on repeat tours in theater to meet the demands of an extended conflict. Overall, about 40% of current military service members have been deployed more than once (Defense Manpower Data Center, 2009b); 263,150 service members have served more than two tours. Figure 2.5 illustrates the number of tours of duty to OEF or OIF of active-component members by branch of military service, and Figure 2.6 shows the number of tours of reservists. The repeat deployments have created more frequent transitions for the service members and their families to navigate, which in turn can create additional stress and possible gaps in care—the stresses may not be the same for all service members, and there appear to be differences between members of the active component and members of the reserve component. Moreover, pressure on troops needed for deployment has resulted in some combat units spending longer tours and shorter periods at home between tours (referred to as dwell time) than the benchmark set by DOD (CBO, 2005). The stated policy for the active component units is 2 years of dwell time; as of August 1, 2008, service members were not to be deployed for more than 12 months (Davis et al., 2005). For the reserve component, the policy is 1 year deployed and 5 years at home (Davis et al., 2005). Figures 2.7 and 2.8 show the average time deployed and the average dwell time by branch for both components, respectively. The average dwell times are substantially shorter than the established policies. According to a 2007 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, the demands of the conflicts have made implementation of the “new” policy difficult (GAO, 2007).

Number of times deployed to OEF or OIF by branch of military service (active component). SOURCE: Defense Manpower Data Center, 2009b.

Number of times deployed to OEF or OIF by branch of military service (reserves). SOURCE: Defense Manpower Data Center, 2009b.

Average time deployed in days by branch of military subdivided by active component and reserve component. SOURCE: Defense Manpower Data Center, 2009b.

Average dwell time in days by branch of military subdivided by active component and reserve component. SOURCE: Defense Manpower Data Center, 2009b.

Another substantial difference in how troops are being used to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan compared with past conflicts has been the growing reliance on the National Guard and reserves ( Table 2.1 ). Since the early 1990s, with the end of the Cold War, there has been a steady reduction in the total number of troops in the US military. 2 Although the decline was halted briefly at the time of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, thereafter the US military continued to reduce its active and reserve forces. 3 Despite the drawdown of military forces, the number of operational deployments increased for frequent peacekeeping missions and humanitarian operations (Jacobs, 2000). For example, the Army National Guard’s combat brigades have been deployed since January 2003 at a rotation ratio 4 of 4.3, which is higher than the stated goal of seven Army National Guard units at their home stations for every one deployed (CBO, 2007b). Furthermore, the Army National Guard has long had more personnel slots in its structure than it has been able to fill, and this has led to understaffed units. The pre-existing personnel shortage has been exacerbated by OEF and OIF. When a unit is mobilized and deployed, it must be brought up to at least 100% of its authorized strength; this is accomplished by transferring personnel from other, “donor” units. 5 The resulting undermanning of donor units is exacerbated when donor units themselves are deployed (CBO, 2007b).

  • CURRENT IMPACT ON OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM AND OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM SERVICE MEMBERS

Throughout history, service members have faced challenges in readjusting to civilian life. Obstacles in navigating the range of available DOD and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefit programs have been consistently reported in connection with each conflict since World War I. In addition, each generation of soldiers has faced challenges specific to its experiences in readjusting to civilian society. The features noted in the previous section—the shift in demographics, the smaller active-duty all-volunteer force, the greater reliance on the reserve component, and the repeated and extended deployments—have also led to issues that did not have to be addressed in previous conflicts. For example, greater reliance on older, married soldiers creates a new array of concerns related to family-life readjustment and the well-being of older children. Repeat deployments can also lead to additional financial and employment-related burdens, although for personnel with skills in great demand special pay and allowances may provide additional compensation beyond the combat- and deployment-related pay (such as imminent-danger pay, hardship-duty pay, and family-separation allowances) (CBO, 2007a). The direct effect of deployment on the service members and their families is not known, but this section briefly summarizes some of the challenges related to readjusting after deployment that have been reported in the popular press, government reports, and the peer-reviewed literature. The issues are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 4 .

Overview of Health Outcomes

The proportion of service members who have been killed or wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan has been lower than that in past conflicts. As of November 24, 2009, 5,286 6 US troops had died and 36,021 7 had been wounded (DOD, 2009). Fatality-to-wounded ratios have been 1:5.0 for OEF and 1:7.2 for OIF (DOD, 2009) compared with 1:2.6 in Vietnam and 1:1.7 in World War II (Leland and Oboroceanu, 2009). The lower number of fatalities is attributable to the improved body armor provided to service members and improved emergency medical care in the war zone (such as rapid evacuation to a trauma center). Consequently, more service members survive to return home with severe combat-related injuries that require additional care. For example, a large number of military personnel have survived blasts that resulted in such injuries as hearing loss and traumatic brain injury (TBI) (Myles, 2008). An estimated 10–20% of OEF and OIF Army and Marine Corps service members have sustained mild TBI that has been associated with various long-term health outcomes (IOM, 2009b). According to a study by Hoge et al. of 303,905 soldiers and marines, 19.1% of troops returning from Iraq and 11.3% of those returning from Afghanistan reported mental health problems compared with 8.5% of those returning from deployments elsewhere (Hoge et al., 2006).

Repeated deployments themselves have also contributed to mental health issues. About 27% of those who have been deployed three or four times have received diagnoses of depression, anxiety, or acute stress compared with 12% of those deployed once (MHAT-V, 2008).

Another troubling consequence of OEF and OIF deployment is the increase in the number of suicides reported in soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan since the start of the conflicts. Historically, the suicide rate has been lower in military members than in civilians matched by age and sex. In 2003, the suicide rate in the US military was estimated at 10–13 per 100,000 troops, depending on the branch of the military (Allen et al., 2005), compared with 13.5 per 100,000 civilians 20–44 years old and 20.6 per 100,000 civilian men 20–34 years old, the demographic that covers most US soldiers in Iraq (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009). However, recent data from the National Violent Death Reporting System indicate that male veterans 8 18–29 years old had a suicide rate of 45.0 per 100,000 in 2005 compared with 20.4 in males in that age group in the general population. As of October 2009, there were already 133 reported suicides (90 confirmed and 43 pending), which is the record for a year; in the same period in 2008, there were 115 confirmed suicides of active-duty soldiers (Department of the Army, 2009); hence, 2009 might well see a new record. A new National Institute of Mental Health–sponsored study of suicide in the US armed forces has been started to investigate the risk factors for soldier suicide.

Problems with substance abuse, particularly alcohol, have also been reported in OEF and OIF military personnel and veterans in the peer-reviewed literature and in the popular press. It is unknown whether the alcohol problems differ between the military population and the civilian population. In the United States, about 1 in 12 adults abuses alcohol or is dependent on alcohol; alcohol problems are highest among people 18–29 years old (NIAAH, 2007). On the basis of data from the 2001–2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, between 1991–1992 and 2001–2002, alcohol abuse 9 increased in the US civilian population from 3.03% to 4.65% while the rate of alcohol dependence 10 declined from 4.38% to 3.81% (Grant et al., 2004).

A recent study found that 43% of active-component service members reported binge drinking within the preceding month (Stahre et al., 2009). Moreover, on the basis of mass-media reports, diagnoses of alcoholism and alcohol abuse increased from 6.1 per 1,000 soldiers in 2003 to an estimated 11.4 as of March 31, 2009. Another emerging substance-abuse issue is that many of today’s military personnel are more likely to be addicted to prescription medications, such as opiates for pain control (Curley, 2009). However, because of the long-standing policy whereby self-referral for substance abuse can be reported to the chain of command, the numbers being reported are probably underestimates of the true number. The readjustment needs associated with these health outcomes are discussed in greater detail in Chapter 4 .

Overview of Social Outcomes

Employment, financial hardships, and homelessness.

Several non-health-related problems faced by service members have been documented. Gaps in pay and benefits that have resulted in debt and other hardships have been reported. For example, there is evidence that service members have been pursued for repayment of military debt, such as unpaid expenses for lost or damaged military equipment, medical services, household moves, insurance premiums, and travel advances. Often times, however, they were pursued for collection of military debts that were incurred through no fault of their own; those included overpayment of pay and allowances, pay calculation errors, and erroneous leave payments (GAO, 2006). The service members have also been prevented from obtaining loans (GAO, 2005). Moreover, there have been reports in the popular press that National Guard and reserve members have been unable to return to the civilian jobs that they left before their deployments ( 60 Minutes , November 2, 2008) despite protective provisions in the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994, a federal law intended to ensure that persons who serve or have served are not disadvantaged in their civilian careers because of their service. According to the Pentagon, over 10% of the National Guard and reserve members report such employment-related problems ( 60 Minutes , November 2, 2008). The problem is especially common among those employed by small businesses: Veterans for America found that some small businesses avoid hiring citizen soldiers (Veterans for America, 2008). Almost 20% of recent veterans are unemployed, and 25% of those who are employed earn less than $21,000 per year (Myles, 2008).

According to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans (2009), veterans are more likely to become homeless because their work skills may not be readily transferable to the civilian sector. In addition, although there are no data on the number of homeless OEF and OIF veterans, because of the large number of troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with mental health problems or TBI, there is concern that they may be at higher risk for homelessness.

Women have made up a greater percentage of the military force during OIF and OEF than in previous conflicts. Because in most families mothers have primary responsibility for arranging for and providing care for children, large-scale deployments have raised concerns about the effects of mothers’ deployments on their children and about the possible strains on families if both partners must maintain careers to preserve their living standards (McFarlane, 2009). A recent study by Vogt et al. (2008) found that active-component women were more susceptible to stressors of deployment than women in the reserve component. The study also found that the longer a parent is absent, the greater the risk of family dysfunction after deployment, and the risk is greater when the deployed parent is the mother.

Family Relationships

Deployments and frequent relocation are inherent in military life. The physical separation, especially when the deployments are to combat zones, is difficult for families. Often, families have little warning of a deployment, and the deployments extend beyond the originally stated duration. Adjusting to the different roles that each partner plays before and after deployment (for example, going from an interdependent state to an independent state and back to an interdependent state) is one of the challenges that married couples face. Service members are expected to work long and unpredictable hours, especially in preparation for deployment, and this puts additional stresses on couples and families. Moreover, when service members return from deployment with physical injuries or cognitive deficits, these problems may contribute to marital conflict. Although those effects have not been studied extensively in the military population, data on marital satisfaction in civilian populations suggest that depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and TBI all adversely affect personal relationships and pose a higher risk of divorce (Davila et al., 2003; Kessler et al., 1998; Kravetz et al., 1995; Kulka et al., 1990). Recent data from the Army show an overall increase in the number of divorces since the start of OEF and OIF, especially in female soldiers. Cotton (2009) reported that in 2008, 8.5% of marriages ended in divorce in women compared with 5.7% in 2000. Similarly, although the rate is lower, 2.9% of men reported marriages ending in divorce in 2008 compared with 2.2% in 2000.

The rate of domestic violence is higher in military couples than in civilian couples. Marshall et al. (2005) reported that wives of Army servicemen reported significantly higher rates of husband-to-wife violence than demographically matched civilian wives. Although it has been reported that spousal abuse has declined over the last few years, domestic violence still affects 20% of military couples in which the service member has been deployed for at least 6 months (Booth et al., 2007).

The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have taken a toll on the children of US troops deployed there. Children of US troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan reportedly sought outpatient mental health services 2 million times in 2008 (Andrews et al., 2008). Inpatient visits by military children have increased by 50% since 2003. Additionally, an increase in the rate of child maltreatment has been reported since the start of the conflicts. Rentz et al. (2007) conducted a time-series analysis from 2000 to 2003 to investigate the effect of deployment on the occurrence of child maltreatment in military and nonmilitary families. They reported a statistically significant two-fold increase in substantiated maltreatment in military families in the 1-year period after September 11, 2001, compared with the period before then. A recent study of over 1,700 military families (Gibbs et al., 2007) found that the overall rate of child maltreatment, especially child neglect, was higher when the soldier-parents were deployed than when they were not deployed. Because of the demographics of those who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan (older service members who are married and have children), the number of children who have been affected by these conflicts is clearly larger than in past conflicts.

Many severely injured service members depend on family members for daily caregiving. The findings of the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors (in what has been known as the Dole–Shalala report) reported in 2007 that in a random sample of 1,730 OEF and OIF veterans, 21% of active-component, 15% of reserve-component, and 24% of retired service members had a family member or friend who had been forced to leave a job to care for an OIF or OEF veteran full-time (President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors, 2007). In addition, 33% of active-component, 22% of reserve-component, and 37% of retired service members reported that a family member or friend relocated temporarily to spend time with a wounded service member while he or she was in the hospital.

  • OVERVIEW OF FEDERAL READJUSTMENT RESOURCES

US troops who serve are entitled to benefits, such as health care. Health care is delivered by DOD through the military health system (MHS) to active-component service members and their dependents, to reserve-component members and their dependents when they are on active duty, and to some military retirees and their dependents. The MHS delivers care through 59 hospitals and over 400 clinics (TRICARE, 2009). The system is supplemented through TRICARE (formerly known as the Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services), which provides civilian health benefits for military personnel, military retirees, and their dependents. However, TRICARE services are time-limited after separation. 11 Moreover, health-care providers who accept TRICARE may be harder to find in nonmilitary communities where some reserve-component service members and their families live (IOM, 2010; Kudler and Straits-Tröster, 2009) than near military installations.

Service members who separate from the military may be eligible for health care administered by VA, which is organized into 23 veterans-integrated service networks where veterans who qualify ( Table 2.5 ) can get free health care. All veterans with at least 24 months of continuous active-duty service and other than a dishonorable discharge are eligible to receive care from VA. OEF and OIF veterans have 5 years after their military separation to enroll in VA health-care services. Enrollment eligibility is determined through an eight-step process (see Chapter 5 ) in which the veteran 12 completes and submits the Application for Health Benefits (VA Form 10-10EZ). In 7–10 days, a decision letter is sent to the veteran stating his or her enrollment eligibility (Task Force on Returning Global War on Terror Heroes, 2007). Effective January 28, 2003, OEF and OIF veterans who enroll within the first 5 years after separating from the military are eligible for enhanced enrollment placement into priority group 6 for 5 years after discharge. VA provides other benefits to veterans, including home loans, life insurance, vocational counseling, employment assistance, and education and training.

TABLE 2.5. Health-Care Priority Groups.

Health-Care Priority Groups.

In addition to the DOD and VA health care available to returning OEF and OIF veterans, numerous informal services are provided by veterans’ service organizations and charities that are funded through federal sources, state programs, and private foundations. Some organizations, such as the Wounded Warrior Project, provide employment support that helps to match returning OEF and OIF veterans with job opportunities. Others, such as Grace After Fire, provide on-line recovery services to female veterans. Because of the great breadth and number of initiatives that are available at the grassroots level, it is beyond the scope of this report to provide a comprehensive review of them; however, Chapter 5 provides more detail on the available federal programs that have been developed in response to OEF and OIF.

The current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq pose unique challenges to DOD and VA. Even as they continue to address the readjustment needs of OEF and OIF service members, veterans, and their families, more work remains. The demands on the forces, the repeated deployments, the shorter dwell times, the activation of parents, and the separation of families have all resulted in unmet needs for many of those who serve. The following chapters provide more detailed information on what those needs are, what programs are available, and what the possible next steps to address the needs might be.

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Average ages of active-duty officers and enlisted members are 34.6 years and 27.1 years, respectively. The average ages of reserve officers and enlisted members are 40.6 years and 31.2 years, respectively (DOD, 2007).

In the active-duty component, children include dependents 23 years old and younger. In the reserve component, children include dependents 22 years old and younger.

There has been a 36% reduction in the size of the military since the end of the Cold War (Jacobs, 2000).

By the end of 1993, the US Army had reduced to 10 combat divisions from the 18 combat divisions it had in the late 1980s (Jensen, 2002).

Rotation ratio is the number of units necessary to support one unit on a rotational deployment.

Units are commonly deployed at 105% or more of their authorized strength to compensate for personnel who become ill or injured during deployment.

The number includes those who were killed in action and those who died under nonhostile circumstances.

The number includes those who were wounded in action by hostile actions and returned to duty and those who were wounded and not returned to duty. It does not include injuries from nonhostile actions, such as pregnancy or illness.

The suicide rate includes veterans of all conflicts.

Diagnosis of alcohol abuse required a respondent to meet at least 1 of the 4 DSM-IV criteria defined for abuse in the past year.

Diagnosis of alcohol dependence required the respondent to meet at least 3 of the 7 DSM-IV criteria for dependence during the past year.

In the case of members of the reserve component, the period ends a few months after return from deployment; this forces family members to change providers.

Veterans are exempt from enrollment requirements if they meet one of the following criteria: if a veteran has a service-connected disability rating of 50% or more; if less than 1 year has passed since the veteran was discharged from military service for a disability that was incurred or aggravated in the line of duty, but the VA has not yet rated it; and if the veteran is seeking care from VA for only a service-connected disability (Panangala, 2007).

  • Cite this Page Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on the Initial Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Military Personnel, Veterans, and Their Families. Returning Home from Iraq and Afghanistan: Preliminary Assessment of Readjustment Needs of Veterans, Service Members, and Their Families. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2010. 2, OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM AND OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM: DEMOGRAPHICS AND IMPACT.
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How Long Is A Tour Of Duty In The Military?

how long is a tour of duty in the army, navy, air force, and marine corps

The U.S. military utilizes a tour of duty system to rotate personnel to various locations, serving different functions as a means of fulfilling missions and allowing service members a broader experience.

This system enables efficiency and organization in terms of each branch of the Armed Forces and its resources — including service members.

All military personnel are eligible for a tour of duty, depending on their unit, position, military occupational specialty, and many other factors.

Here is an explanation of how long a tour of duty is in the military.

Related Article – How To Get A Copy Of Your DD 214: 5 Fastest Ways

Table of Contents

What Is Considered A Tour Of Duty In The Military?

soldiers reuniting with their families upon completion of their tour of duty

A military tour of duty (TOD) refers to a period of time in which personnel from one or more of the Armed Forces branches are deployed or stationed outside the U.S., usually overseas.

You may also see a Tour of Duty called a Deployment. They are both orders issued for a specific purpose or mission and both have a defined time period.

This is sometimes confused with a “TDY” — or Temporary Duty orders . Generally, a TDY is a short-term assignment for the purpose of training or performing administrative duties such as audits and inspections. 

A Tour of Duty or Deployment typically means that service members are temporarily relocated from their base to a different region for mission-related activities.

Such regions are generally located in another country and frequently in areas of combat or hostile environments.

Tours of duty set up a method for rotating military personnel so that human resources are not over-stretched in these conditions.

Before a service member is issued with Tour of Duty or Deployment orders, they must complete basic training within their branch.

They must also undergo any additional unit or individual training that is required.

When service members are not assigned to a tour of duty, they perform their jobs and duties at the post or base where they are stationed.

How Long Is A Tour Of Duty?

In the U.S. military, the length of a tour of duty depends on the branch of the Armed Forces, the reason for deployment, location of tour, and mission of the unit.

Each military branch requires different time spent “in the field” which means active training and/or undertaking an active mission.

For example, certain branches such as the Army may face more active combat situations than members of the Navy.

Therefore, the duration of tours of duty vary between the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps.

Different military branches and their sections determine the timing of a tour of duty.

Note that the Department of Defense has policies indicating the maximum length of any assignment based on the location, the mission, and whether the orders include family members.

Related Article – Which Branch Of The Military Should I Join?

soldiers training for an upcoming tour of duty

A tour of duty in the Army to a combat zone is typically between 6 and 12 months, though in some cases it is extended to 15 months.

Deployment tours are dependent on the needs and demands of the Army.

In general, soldiers are eligible for two weeks of leave, known as “R&R” (rest and relaxation), after six months of deployment in a combat zone.

A tour of duty to a non-combat zone overseas may be 12 to 36 months.

If a soldier is assigned an “accompanied” tour of duty overseas, in which dependents and family members go along as well, the time period can be as long as 36 months.

Soldiers with dependents that serve “unaccompanied” tours overseas, in which family members do not go along, are usually in-country for 12 months.

Single soldiers (with no dependents) that are assigned to places such as Europe or Japan typically spend 36 months in tour duration.

In these cases, many service members request extensions to remain in these assignments. This may or may not be approved.

The Army considers several aspects in determining tour of duty length for overseas service.

These aspects include:

  • Readiness of overseas units
  • Stability for soldiers and their families in certain locations
  • Stability for commanders in reducing the need for training new soldiers

In the Navy, a tour of duty indicates the period of time spent at sea, performing operational duties.

These duties may include:

  • Fleet responsibilities
  • Service in a foreign country

A naval tour of duty is part of a rotation that may include a six-month tour on a ship at sea and one month for maintenance in home port with time for training and/or exercises.

Then, there is usually a return to tour of duty at sea for another 6 months.

Most overseas tours for members of the U.S. Navy are limited to two or three years.

However, for naval military personnel assigned to Japan, Guam, and some other areas, tour lengths may last as long as four years.

In some cases, sailors that extend their tour of duty by a year may receive preferential consideration for their next location.

This incentive is offered to enhance the strength and stability of naval forces.

Similar to the Army, a typical tour of duty for Air Force personnel is 12 months in a combat zone.

Most enlisted USAF personnel are not normally involved in direct combat operations, however, which means most tours of duty are usually classified as either accompanied or non-accompanied. 

In this case, accompanied tours are usually for 24-36 months and unaccompanied for 12-24. The timespan will vary depending on the location.

For Air Force pilots and other aircrew members (flight engineers, navigators, loadmasters, etc.), the length of a tour of duty is mission-based. 

USAF members directly assigned to aircraft often do take part in combat missions, although they’re far more mobile than Army forces. Therefore, a tour of duty could be 12-24 months flying out of an installation in a contested region.

It could also be only a month or two providing airlift or air-to-air refueling, flying out of a base in a friendly country (such as Germany, Turkey, or Japan).

On the other hand, it could also mean an accompanied PCS to one of these long-established overseas locations for 36 months. 

Marine Corps

Marine Corps service members typically experience tours of duty overseas between 6 and 12 months, depending on the type of mission.

For example, a Unit Deployment Program (UDP) lasts 6 months, reducing the number of unaccompanied tours for individual Marines.

A deployment for a Marine Air-Ground Task Force lasts up to 6 months and is mission-specific to establish overt U.S. military presence in certain areas.

Marines can also be assigned a tour of duty as an Individual Augmentee.

This takes place when a service member with specific skills is sent to join another military operation for up to 12 months.

Units of Marines can also deploy for combat operations.

In these cases, the tour of duty duration is dependent on the military’s needs in engagement with enemy forces.

However, the length is limited by DoD policy, based on the location.

Conus-side, a stateside tour of duty for Marines is generally 36 months or 3 years. 

Related Article – Easiest Branch Of The Military

Factors That Influence Tour Of Duty Duration

how long is a tour of duty in the marine corps

In addition to a service member’s branch, there are other factors that influence how long a military tour of duty may last.

Since many TODs are spent in hazardous and/or unfriendly areas, away from family and comforts of home, the pressure and toll they take on military members can be significant.

This is why the military coordinates rotating of personnel as effectively as possible.

The goal is to avoid exhaustion and other risks involved in constant action and to attempt to preserve mental and physical health.

Individual service members may face longer or more frequent TODs depending on their experience and expertise.

Depending on the roles that military personnel play in the field, as well as the amount of stress and pressure they face, some tours are longer than others.

Other influential factors include:

  • Military occupation
  • Mission requirements
  • Prior service experience
  • Type of unit
  • Available resources

Additionally, the reasons for deployment and the location are influential factors that affect the duration of a tour of duty.

For example, active combat missions are generally shorter than tours of duty for the purpose of training exercises or peace-keeping missions.

Related Article – How To Switch From Reserves To Active Duty

Different branches of the U.S. military assign various tours of duty of different duration, depending on many factors and circumstances.

When a military tour of duty is concluded, the service member is generally assigned to a regular duty station or post.

In addition, the service member is ineligible for another tour of duty for a certain period of time.

This ineligibility allows for a break, and recovery, from the intense pressure and action faced by military members that are associated with many deployments and overseas tours.

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Salary and Compensation

Financial security to ensure our nation's security.

The Marine Corps takes care of its own, ensuring Marines have the financial security at home to focus on the battles they fight and win for our Nation. For a single tour or for an entire career, Marines retain the benefits earned by keeping our Nation safe and free. By becoming one of us, your title will be your membership into an everlasting warriorhood, as those who stand alongside you in battle will never leave your side. To that end, the Marine Corps offers many financial benefits, as well as promotional and advance opportunities.

A RECIPROCAL COMMITMENT

To effectively fight onward to advance our Nation, Marines must not only be highly skilled, but financially secure. If you earn your title as one of us, we will invest in you, advancing your future—so that you can fight for everyone’s future.

FINANCIAL SECURITY

The advantages to becoming a Marine far exceed a guaranteed salary and personal financial security. Each Marine is supported by the Corps through a range of personal and professional resources. Those who earn our title can forever call on the principles instilled in them, the Marines beside them, and the commitments made to them by an unwavering Corps and a grateful Nation. All Marines will:

Receive regular pay raises

Get an additional housing allowance

Gain an opportunity for reenlistment bonuses

Get regular cost-of-living pay increases

Become eligible for special-duty pay and allowances

Receive an annual uniform allowance

Earn attractive retirement benefits

Be eligible for the Thrift Savings Plan

Receive a guaranteed Marine Corps salary

MARINE CORPS PENSION - FUTURE SECURITY

After 20 years of active-duty service in the Marine Corps, Marines earn retirement benefits and a pension, which enables retirement at an earlier age than what is offered through most civilian opportunities. Many retired Marines lead full civilian careers in their communities after their Marine service, knowing they have the added financial security of a Marine Corps pension.

FIGHT IN RESERVE:

As Marines, it is our responsibility to fight for our Nation through every uncertainty that may arise. This includes our Reserve Marines who train part time all over the United States, many of whom experience worldwide travel annually. Like all Marines, those who come through our Reserve Programs are as instrumental in humanitarian efforts as in combat operations. Download our Marine Reserve pay chart.

Reserve Pay PDF

ALWAYS ADVANCING

When Marines excel in their current rank, they become eligible for promotion into the next. By taking on more responsibility and showing our Corps and country that you can be counted on, you become eligible for further advancement. With each promotion comes new challenges that must be conquered—and new battles that must be won.

THROUGH THE RANKS

The chain of command for the Marine Corps ranks is divided into two groups: Enlisted Marines and Marine Officers. The majority of Marines are enlisted. Enlisted Marines begin at the most junior ranks: private, private first class, and lance corporal. Private has a paygrade of E-1, and each rank has a corresponding paygrade from E-1 through E-9.

The next giant leap after lance corporal is to noncommissioned officer, or NCO.

The NCO ranks are comprised of corporal, then sergeant, followed by the most senior ranks in the Corps: staff NCOs. The staff NCO ranks, in order, include staff sergeant or gunnery sergeant and master sergeant or first sergeant. The single highest-ranking enlisted Marine is the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, who serves alongside the Commandant.

Each enlisted Marine, no matter how junior or senior, is trusted with the responsibility of ensuring the welfare of our country now and into the future.

POSITIONED TO LEAD

To commission as a Marine Officer is both a great honor and a great commitment—to the Corps, our Nation, and its people. Regardless of rank, America counts on Marine Officers to lead Marines into battle and win on current and future battlefields.

Second lieutenant, first lieutenant and captain are the first three officer ranks, and those who earn them are referred to as company-grade officers.

Promotion to the rank of major is a significant milestone for Marine Officers, as they join lieutenant colonels and colonels as field-grade officers. The final promotion in the field-grade officer ranks is to colonel.

Rising to the rank of General is a great honor. Each of the general ranks is also associated with one-star up to four-stars and includes brigadier general, major general, lieutenant general and general.

The most senior officer rank is four-star general, referred to simply as general. These top-level officers are nominated by the President and must also be confirmed for duty by the Senate. The highest-ranking Marine Officer, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, is also a four-star general and serves on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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Those With Multiple Tours of War Overseas Struggle at Home

average tours for marines

By Benedict Carey

  • May 29, 2016

FORT WORTH, Tex. — The dinner crowd was sparse for a downtown steakhouse, a handful of families and couples lost in conversations. Ryan Lundeby, 32, an Army Ranger with five deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan, took in the scene from his table, seemingly meditative beneath his shaved head and long beard.

He was not.

“He watches, he’s always watching; he notices everything,” said his wife, Mary. “Superman noticing skills, that’s what I call it. Look, he’s doing it now — Ryan?”

“That table over there,” Mr. Lundeby said, his voice soft, his eyes holding a line. “The guy threw his straw wrapper on the ground. I’m waiting to see if he picks it up.”

He did not. Mr. Lundeby’s breathing slowed.

After 14 years of war, the number of veterans with multiple tours of combat duty is the largest in modern American history — more than 90,000 soldiers and Marines, many of them elite fighters who deployed four or more times. New evidence suggests that these veterans are not like most others when it comes to adjusting to civilian life.

An analysis of Army data shows that, unlike most of the military, these soldiers’ risk of committing suicide actually drops when they are deployed and soars after they return home. For the 85 percent of soldiers who make up the rest of the service and were deployed, the reverse is true.

“It’s exactly the opposite of what you see in the trauma literature, where more exposure predicts more problems,” said Ronald Kessler of Harvard, who led the study.

The findings may shed a clearer light on the need of this important group of veterans, whose experience is largely unparalleled in American history, in their numerous exposures to insurgent warfare, without clear fronts or predictable local populations. Researchers are finding that these elite fighters do not easily fit into the classic mold of veterans traumatized by their experience in war. As psychologists and others grow to understand this, they are starting to rethink some approaches to their treatment.

The idea that these elite fighters can adapt solely by addressing emotional trauma, some experts said, is badly misplaced. Their primary difficulty is not necessarily one of healing emotional wounds; they thrived in combat. It is rather a matter of unlearning the very skills that have kept them alive: unceasing vigilance; snap decision making; intolerance for carelessness; the urge to act fast and decisively.

“I don’t even leave my house much,” said Jeff Ewert, who served with the Marines in Iraq and now lives in Utah. “I’m scared not because I’m an über-killer or anything. I just minimize my exposure because I know how easy it is to cross that line, to act without thinking.”

Alan Peterson, an Air Force veteran who oversees two large research consortiums studying combat stress at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, is sharply aware of the challenges. “Turning off this hyper-hardwiring after returning from a deployment is not an automatic function of the brain,” he said. “We have virtually no science to guide us in managing these instincts. We need to figure that out, or we’re going to end up with a generation that struggles for much of their lives.”

Mr. Lundeby’s Ranger battalion specialized in extractions — surprise raids on high-ranking insurgents. The soldiers usually struck at night — vampire work, some called it — and often the missions were over within a couple of hours.

It is one thing to train for such work. It is another to perform well when something goes sideways. In a 2007 raid in Baghdad, the team blew the front door off a house, leaving a screen door half-attached. The first man inside — the point man and team leader — tripped on the screen and fell down. Mr. Lundeby was behind him.

“You want to help him, you feel this almost tidal pull,” he said. “But that’s someone else’s job; yours is to keep the momentum going.”

He next remembers being in the house, the green haze of the night-vision gear, going room to room, watching for anything amiss. And then, a few doors down, “We pulled the guy out, put him in the truck, and were gone, done.”

The military is very good at identifying and amplifying the psychological factors that make a high-performing fighter. The Pentagon has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on testing and analyzing these elements, but its researchers publish very few of their findings and refuse to speak in specifics on the record.

Psychiatrists and psychologists who have worked with the military say the sought-after mental profile is based largely on two well-known kinds of testing. One is a 44-item questionnaire that assesses personality. The other test is intended to gauge performance.

People who excel in combat tend to be assertive, active, excitement-seeking and enthusiastic.

“I hate to use the cliché, but these are guys who love to be at the tip of the spear,” said a psychologist who works with the military; he asked that his name be omitted to protect that relationship. “It’s more than the camaraderie; there’s a need to protect life, directly — and if necessary, to take life.”

The performance measure has more to do with attention and decision making. It is based in part on a theory of concentration “styles,” developed by researchers studying athletes.

“The classic analyst takes in the information and then retreats into their head and wants to think about it, then maybe checks the environment again and thinks some more,” said Dr. Charles A. Morgan III, a psychiatrist at the University of New Haven who has worked extensively with Special Operations forces. The elite combat troops operate much differently, he said. “They immediately take in their surroundings; they have a high degree of external focus. But they’re able to switch internally, make a quick decision — then act and adjust as they go.”

In training and in combat, this intense awareness and decision making become much sharper. “Essentially the decision making and acting become second nature,” said Bret Moore, the deputy director of the Army’s Warrior Resiliency Program of the Regional Health Command-Central in San Antonio. “You do not want these guys thinking too much.”

That may help explain the recent suicide findings. The research team, led by Dr. Kessler of Harvard and Dr. Robert Ursano of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, analyzed 496 suicides among men in the Army from 2004 to 2009. The risks for two jobs — infantryman and combat engineer — were higher across the board, at 37 per 100,000 each year. But the rate was 30 per 100,000 while deployed, compared with 40 per 100,000 when back home. The rate across the rest of the Army was much lower at home, 15 per 100,000, compared with during deployment, where it was 22 per 100,000.

“These are the guys, we think, who are getting into fights, or in trouble with the law, who are impulsive and don’t manage well when they’re back in a civilian world that seems boring and frustrating,” Dr. Kessler said.

Mr. Lundeby had the makings of a combat soldier from an early age. Growing up in Modesto, Calif., the younger of two brothers, he was mostly easygoing — a Boy Scout, a driven athlete — but for a sensitivity to injustices, small and large. “He had this intense sense of what was fair and just, and he would go toe to toe” with anyone, said his mother, Vicky Lundeby. “He had to be the one to make things right.”

That quality left him feeling bored and disconnected after high school, studying graphic arts at a local community college. The news coming out of Iraq in 2003 put him in motion: He signed up for the Army Reserve, then the National Guard. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina landed his Guard unit in New Orleans, working for a month to contain looting and help people evacuate to safety. “I decided, right there,” he said, “I want to do this every day.”

“Katrina changed him,” said his father, Luther. “I feel like it gave him that purpose he wanted.”

Ryan Lundeby joined the Army and soon set his sights on the Rangers, beginning an intense training regimen. In 2007, he deployed for the first time, to Iraq. “It felt like Christmas; finally, a chance to do this for keeps.”

But returning home for good in 2010, he was a man on constant patrol. He raged at fellow drivers whom he considered rude or careless. He confronted litterers, often by picking up the offending cigarette butt or fast-food wrapper and throwing it in their faces. When a driver cut off Mary, then his fiancée, on her way home from work, he jumped on his motorcycle in nothing but running shorts and prowled the neighborhood to make the man pay.

“I don’t know what I would have done if I’d found him,” he said. “But I feel like that’s what happens to guys. You react — and next thing you know, the police are there.”

The combat veterans in this category form “a pretty closed club,” said Ford Sypher, a friend of Mr. Lundeby’s and a fellow Ranger, who deployed five times and, after leaving the Army, has returned to the Middle East, now as a documentary filmmaker. “We don’t talk about this stuff much with anyone. But we’re all trying to figure out ways to manage it.”

For now, there is no therapy that reliably reverses or dials down the instincts acquired in multiple combat tours. Military-backed researchers are experimenting with a variety of approaches for these veterans, including virtual reality and biofeedback techniques, in effect to train new instincts that overwrite the old ones.

There are psychologists who argue that vigilance, snap decision making and other combat attributes can be helpful in some aspects of civilian life. “You begin by letting people know that they’re not crazy, it’s not at all abnormal to have these reactions — it’s normal,” said Richard Tedeschi, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, who works with veterans. And those skills, he added, “can be turned to a future mission, whether that’s related to family, or helping other vets, or to a job.”

Mr. Lundeby has been lucky. He has a supportive family and group of friends, and a wife who understands his quirks and helps him manage them. She was the one who demanded he visit a veterans clinic, which led to therapy with a former Marine who understood how to get him to think before acting — even if the urge was strong.

“He got me to ask, ‘Do I have time to do this — to right every wrong?’” said Mr. Lundeby, who several months ago landed his first post-deployment job, at a helicopter manufacturer. “And he got me to see the humanity of the people I was confronting.”

“So I may always be a Ranger, in some ways,” he said, “but I’ve stopped trying to be the world’s sheriff.”

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'Millions' of Veterans Exposed to Environmental Hazards Will Be Eligible for VA Health Care on March 5

Air National Guard emergency managers search for radioactive material during a Global Dragon training event at the Guardian Center of Georgia.

Millions of U.S. veterans will be eligible beginning March 5 for health care with the Department of Veterans Affairs under an accelerated effort to provide benefits and services to those exposed to toxic substances while serving.

The VA announced Monday that all veterans who have served in a combat zone since the Vietnam War, as well as those who participated in training or operations and came into contact with hazardous materials, will be able to enroll in VA health care.

The expansion of health care benefits was mandated by the PACT Act , signed into law by President Joe Biden in August 2022 , which required the expansion to occur by 2032. VA officials said last month the acceleration is a result of a hiring blitz made possible by provisions in the law.

Read Next: Marine Corps F-35 Takes Nosedive in Hangar While Being Used by Navy Top Gun School

"If you're a veteran who may have been exposed to toxins or hazards while serving our country, at home or abroad, we want you to come to us for the health care you deserve," VA Secretary Denis McDonough said Monday in a release.

Under the PACT Act, more than 100,000 veterans have enrolled in VA health care and roughly 760,000 disability claims have been approved. VA officials did not detail exactly how many veterans now will be eligible for care under the expansion but said the figure is in the "millions."

"Beginning March 5, we're making millions of veterans eligible for VA health care years earlier than called for by the PACT Act," VA Under Secretary for Health Dr. Shereef Elnahal said. "We want to bring all of these veterans to VA for the care they've earned and deserve."

The expansion allows all veterans who deployed to combat zones in support of the Vietnam, Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan wars to enroll in VA health care.

In addition, veterans who never deployed but were exposed to pollutants while participating in a known "toxic exposure risk activity," or TERA, either in the U.S. or abroad, will be eligible.

That would include exposure while on active duty, active-duty training or inactive-duty training to: air pollutants from burn pits, particulate matter, sulfur or oil well fires; chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides, contaminated water or depleted uranium from embedded shrapnel; occupational hazards such as lead, industrial solvents, toxic paint, asbestos and firefighting foam; radiation, including nuclear weapons handling, maintenance and detonation, X-rays and occupational exposure; and chemical or biological weapons or nerve agents.

According to the VA, the department will use service records and other resources to determine whether a veteran participated in a TERA.

Veterans are not required to have a service-connected disability or file a compensation claim to be eligible for VA care. New enrollees will have access to a toxic exposure screening provided by their primary care physician and may be referred to specialty care depending on need, Elnahal said during a call with reporters last month.

They also will be assessed for placement in the VA's priority-based health system and referred to the Veterans Benefits Administration if they qualify for additional benefits.

Priority group placement determines whether a veteran is required to make copayments for appointments or prescriptions, depending on treatment or the medications.

During a press conference Monday, Elnahal said that, by law, veterans receiving treatment for exposure-related illnesses will not make copayments for appointments related to that care.

"This is a real economic benefit opportunity for veterans but also a clinical benefit," Elnahal said.

The Veterans Health Administration has set a goal to hire 52,000 employees this fiscal year, which, when factoring in attrition, should grow its workforce by 3%. Elnahal said the increases could help to absorb new patients, meet demand and standardize -- or even improve -- wait times.

"Challenges abound with hiring for every single health care system, so we are not complacent at all," Elnahal said. "We're continuing to make the changes we need to make the hiring process better and faster."

The VA is encouraging veterans to apply for care or benefits by visiting the VA.gov/PACT website or calling 1-800-MYVA411.

Related : Millions of Vets Got Health Care and Benefits Under the PACT Act. Thousands Left Out Want the Same Chance.

Patricia Kime

Patricia Kime

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This Day In History : October 14

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U.S. servicemen sent to Vietnam for second tours

average tours for marines

U.S. Defense Department officials announce that the Army and Marines will be sending about 24,000 men back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours because of the length of the war, high turnover of personnel resulting from the one year of duty, and the tight supply of experienced soldiers. This decision had an extremely negative impact on troop morale and the combat readiness of U.S. forces elsewhere in the world as troops were transferred to meet the increased personnel requirements in Vietnam.

Also on This Day in History October | 14

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“wake up little susie” becomes the everly brothers’ first #1 hit, theodore roosevelt shot in milwaukee, the battle of hastings, martin luther king jr. wins nobel peace prize.

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Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier

Nikita khrushchev ousted as premier of soviet union, dwight d. eisenhower is born, "the adventures of sherlock holmes" published, “pulp fiction” opens in theaters, trial begins in amityville murders, soviet missiles photographed in cuba, german general erwin rommel—aka “the desert fox”—dies by suicide, adolf hitler wounded in british gas attack.

Troops around the world crowdsourced a military version of ‘MTV Cribs’

We know what you're thinking, and yes, you should've joined the Air Force.

By Paul Szoldra | Published Mar 17, 2021 10:50 AM EDT

  • Military Life

American military members around the world have been showing off the inside of their barracks rooms for months in a crowdsourced version of MTV Cribs.

“If you’re in the military and you live in the barracks, use this sound to show off your barracks room,” a soldier named Chandler Flood said in a video posted to TikTok in November as he panned around his room at Fort Benning in Georgia. “Make sure to mention what base you’re at so people can compare.”

@officialflood Definitely one of the smallest barracks rooms out there, duet this 🙂 #military #army #fyp #GraphicDesign ♬ Room Tour – ChandlerFlood

The trend has taken off since it debuted last year, perhaps due to Flood having more than 84,000 followers on the platform. Flood’s first video — like the many that have been uploaded since — offers a rare glimpse of life in the junior ranks of the military that goes beyond a shaky-cam panorama of a cramped room shared by two soldiers. 

Similar to college dorms in size and appearance, barracks rooms typically house single junior enlisted service members. But what’s notable about the barracks? Frequent shenanigans , as one soldier put it on Rallypoint , a military social network.

“I’ll put it this way. I went to a few frat parties when I came home during my time in service and not once did I feel like I was in over my head when it came to the party life,” another soldier added.

Anyone that has spent any period of time in the barracks knows this, of course. When you have hundreds of young service members all in one place, the military version of a house party is bound to happen and spur everything from drunken fights to spontaneous concerts on the catwalk.

Despite the obvious fact that you’re paying tuition to live in one and you’re being paid to live in the other, there is another major difference between living in a college dorm and living in a barracks. You don’t get to choose which barracks you live in. You can have a good barracks room or a bad one depending on several factors like your duty station, unit assignment, and rank.

So room layouts can be as different as night and day across branches and bases, as the TikTok videos show, with airmen often living alone in large rooms while Marines endure snoring roommates. Indeed, several Marines showed off their rooms at Camp Pendleton in southern California, where having a roommate is common. Though of course, there are always exceptions.

@caleb_msewell I don’t live here anymore, but here was my room before I packed it all up. #military #mcas #miramar #ca #sandiego #navy #usnavy ♬ Room Tour – ChandlerFlood

Things look quite different at Fort Polk in Louisiana, where one soldier used a keycard to open a door to reveal a small living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and a walk-in closet. The space left many in awe. “Polk living large compared to [Fort] Hood,” one person commented , mentioning the Central Texas base home to around 40,000 soldiers of the III Armored Corps. 

@selfmade_gin #military #bestbarracks #activeduty #xyzbca #trending #fypシ #fortpolk ♬ Room Tour – ChandlerFlood

So what’s it like at Fort Hood? Well, that too seems to vary wildly: Standard government-built housing for two people simply looking for a place to sleep (one video bore the hashtag #getmeout) seems to be one option; while others showed off large walk-in closets and roomy single bedrooms that look “like a hotel room,” as one person put it.

Meanwhile, several soldiers showed off spacious digs at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, from a gamer’s paradise to what seems more like a hotel suite than an Army barracks. About 2,000 miles away at Fort Drum in New York, others displayed large rooms with small kitchen areas and walk-in closets, though one soldier — who probably never stepped foot inside a Marine infantry barracks at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, was not impressed with his digs: “Welcome to my jail cell,” he wrote.

“Fucking shit rooms,” another soldier said of his barracks at Fort Stewart in Georgia.

And at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, a 21-year-old soldier showed off a room that mirrors a small apartment, including a bedroom, bathroom with a tub, and a kitchen with a full-size stove and refrigerator. Many were stunned by the room’s size, though the soldier acknowledged he was likely living “in the top 3” barracks buildings on the Army post, which is home to the 101st Airborne Division and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. 

@kevin.lape I’m happy and content with ours #fyp #foryourpage #military #army #barracks #barrackslife ♬ Room Tour – ChandlerFlood

The barracks tour traveled much further than that, with hundreds of video tours coming in from as far afield as the United Kingdom , South Korea , Japan , Italy , Germany , and even Afghanistan. “Wish the Property Brothers were around back then,” one soldier wrote in jest, showing photos from the Afghan city of Kandahar and the spartan living conditions she faced while on deployment. “I bet they could have updated our space.”

@warrior_princess_ Wish the Property Brothers were around back then, I bet they could have updated our space #greenscreen 🇺🇸 #army #nationalguard #military #mp #duet ♬ Room Tour – ChandlerFlood

And yet, it was a four-person room at the Marine base in Twentynine Palms, California that one person dubbed “the most depressing place on earth.” 

@abbeyxleigh Yea you already know🤦🏻‍♀️ @the_lawdog #NHLFaceOff #WeirdPets #HealthyCooking #military ♬ Room Tour – ChandlerFlood

But perhaps no one can beat a room shown off by an airman in the dorms — the Air Force doesn’t call them barracks — which is massive compared to other services’ rooms. In fact, this makes us rethink the whole ‘college dorms are different from the barracks’ explanation from earlier.

@bethanyxclips I’m sorry but looking at the sound yalls army dorms are ASS LMFAO so i had to show y’all how it’s done😼 #Airforce #Army #marines #Barracks #fyp #dorms ♬ Room Tour – ChandlerFlood

“And this is why no one [likes the] Air Force,” one person wrote in the comments, to which the airman replied: “Y’all hate [us] cause ya’ll ain’t us.”

Paul Szoldra

Paul Szoldra was the Editor in Chief of Task & Purpose from October 2018 until August 2022. Since joining T&P, he has led a talented team of writers, editors, and creators who produce military journalism reaching millions of readers each month. He also founded and edits Duffel Blog , an influential satirical newsletter for the military. Contact the author here.

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Vietnam War Facts, Stats and Myths

Information presented by SFC (Ret) David Hack. Hack volunteered for service in Vietnam in 1968, joining the 1st Infantry Division. He served as a sergeant with the Big Red One in Lai Khe, Vietnam. Hack received the Purple Heart for major combat injuries, and spent the rest of his military career as a recruiter for the US Army in Akron, Ohio.

9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975.

2,709,918 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam.

240 men were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War.

Of Those Lost

The first man to die in Vietnam was James Davis, in 1961. He was with the 509th Radio Research Station. The Davis Station in Saigon was named for him.

Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old.

The oldest man killed was 62 years old.

58,148 were killed in Vietnam, 75,000 severely disabled, 23,214 were 100% disabled, 5,283 lost limbs and 1,081 sustained multiple amputations.

Of those killed, 61% were younger than 21 years old.

11,465 of those killed were younger than 20 years old.

Of those killed, 17,539 were married.

The average age of the men killed: 23.1 years.

Veteran Successes

Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation.

They have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups.

Their personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent.

87% of Americans hold Vietnam Veterans in high esteem.

There is no difference in drug usage between Vietnam Veterans and non-Vietnam Veterans of the same age group (Source: Veterans Administration Study).

Vietnam Veterans are less likely to be in prison – only one-half of one percent of Vietnam Veterans have been jailed for crimes.

85% of Vietnam Veterans made successful transitions to civilian life.

97% of Vietnam Veterans were honorably discharged.

91% of Vietnam Veterans say they are glad they served.

74% say they would serve again, even knowing the outcome.

Many Still Missing

As of April 14, 2017, there are 1,611 Americans still unaccounted for from the Vietnam War across Vietnam (1,258), Laos(297), Cambodia(49), and China(7).

Vietnam Combat Area Casualty File

The Statistics in the Combat Area Casualty File (CACF 11/93) show an average age of death much higher than that of news reports.

The average age of the 58,148 killed in Vietnam was 23.11 years (Although 58,169 names are in the Nov. 93 database, only 58,148 have both event date and birth date. Event date is used instead of declared dead date for some of those who were listed as missing in action).

Deaths Average Age

  • Enlisted : 50,274, 22.37 years
  • Officers : 6,598, 28.43 years
  • Warrants : 1,276, 24.73 years
  • E1 525, 20.34 years
  • 11B MOS : 18,465, 22.55 years
  • Totals: 58,148, 23.11 years

Myths and Facts

Myth: common belief is that most vietnam veterans were drafted..

Fact : 2/3 of the men who served in Vietnam were volunteers. 2/3 of the men who served in World War II were drafted. Approximately 70% of those killed in Vietnam were volunteers.

Myth: The media have reported that suicides among Vietnam veterans range from 50,000 to 100,000 – 6 to 11 times the non-Vietnam veteran population.

Fact : Mortality studies show that 9,000 is a better estimate. “The CDC Vietnam Experience Study Mortality Assessment showed that during the first 5 years after discharge, deaths from suicide were 1.7 times more likely among Vietnam veterans than non-Vietnam veterans. After that initial post-service period, Vietnam veterans were no more likely to die from suicide than non-Vietnam veterans. In fact, after the 5-year post-service period, the rate of suicides is less in the Vietnam veterans’ group.

Myth: Common belief is that a disproportionate number of blacks were killed in the Vietnam War.

Fact : 86% of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasians, 12.5% were black, 1.2% were other races. Sociologists Charles C. Moskos and John Sibley Butler, in their recently published book “All That We Can Be,” said they analyzed the claim that blacks were used like cannon fodder during Vietnam “and can report definitely that this charge is untrue. Black fatalities amounted to 12 percent of all Americans killed in Southeast Asia, a figure proportional to the number of blacks in the U.S. population at the time and slightly lower than the proportion of blacks in the Army at the close of the war.”

Myth: Common belief is that the war was fought largely by the poor and uneducated.

Fact : Servicemen who went to Vietnam from well-to-do areas had a slightly elevated risk of dying because they were more likely to be pilots or infantry officers. Vietnam Veterans were the best educated forces our nation had ever sent into combat. 79% had a high school education or better.

Myth: The common belief is the average age of an infantryman fighting in Vietnam was 19.

Fact : Assuming KIAs accurately represented age groups serving in Vietnam, the average age of an infantryman (MOS 11B) serving in Vietnam to be 19 years old is a myth, it is actually 22. None of the enlisted grades have an average age of less than 20. The average man who fought in World War II was 26 years of age.

Myth: The United States lost the war in Vietnam.

Fact : The American military was not defeated in Vietnam. The American military did not lose a battle of any consequence. From a military standpoint, it was almost an unprecedented performance. General Westmoreland quoting Douglas Pike (a professor at the University of California, Berkeley), a major military defeat for the VC and NVA.

Myth: The common belief is that the domino theory was proved false.

Fact : The domino theory was accurate. The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand stayed free of Communism because of the U.S. commitment to Vietnam. The Indonesians threw the Soviets out in 1966 because of America’s commitment in Vietnam. Without that commitment, Communism would have swept all the way to the Malacca Straits that is south of Singapore and of great strategic importance to the free world. If you ask people who live in these countries that won the war in Vietnam, they have a different opinion from the American news media. The Vietnam War was the turning point for Communism.

Myth: The common belief is that the fighting in Vietnam was not as intense as in World War II.

Fact : The average infantryman in the South Pacific during World War II saw about 40 days of combat in four years. The average infantryman in Vietnam saw about 240 days of combat in one year thanks to the mobility of the helicopter. One out of every 10 Americans who served in Vietnam was a casualty. 58,148 were killed and 304,000 wounded out of 2.7 million who served. Although the percent that died is similar to other wars, amputations or crippling wounds were 300 percent higher than in World War II. 75,000 Vietnam veterans are severely disabled. MEDEVAC helicopters flew nearly 500,000 missions. Over 900,000 patients were airlifted (nearly half were American). The average time lapse between wounding to hospitalization was less than one hour.

As a result, less than one percent of all Americans wounded, who survived the first 24 hours, died. The helicopter provided unprecedented mobility. Without the helicopter it would have taken three times as many troops to secure the 800 mile border with Cambodia and Laos (the politicians thought the Geneva Conventions of 1954 and the Geneva Accords or 1962 would secure the border).

Myth: Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8 June 1972 (shown a million times on American television) was burned by Americans bombing Trang Bang.

Fact : No American had involvement in this incident near Trang Bang that burned Phan Thi Kim Phuc. The planes doing the bombing near the village were VNAF (Vietnam Air Force) and were being flown by Vietnamese pilots in support of South Vietnamese troops on the ground. The Vietnamese pilot who dropped the napalm in error is currently living in the United States. Even the AP photographer, Nick Ut, who took the picture, was Vietnamese. The incident in the photo took place on the second day of a three day battle between the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) who occupied the village of Trang Bang and the ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) who were trying to force the NVA out of the village. News media have reported tha an American commander ordered the air strike that burned Kim Phuc.Those are incorrect. There were no Americans involved in any capacity. “We (Americans) had nothing to do with controlling VNAF,” according to Lieutenant General (Ret) James F. Hollingsworth, the Commanding General of TRAC at that time. Also, it has been incorrectly reported that two of Kim Phuc’s brothers were killed in this incident. They were Kim’s cousins not her brothers.

Census Stats and “I Served in Vietnam” Wannabees

1,713,823 of those who served in Vietnam were still alive as of August, 1995 (census figures).

During that same Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served was: 9,492,958.

As of the current Census taken during August, 2000, the surviving U.S. Vietnam Veteran population estimate is: 1,002,511. This is hard to believe, losing nearly 711,000 between ’95 and ’00. That’s 390 per day. During this Census count, the number of Americans falsely claiming to have served in-country is: 13,853,027. By this census, FOUR OUT OF FIVE WHO CLAIM TO BE VIETNAM VETS ARE NOT. This makes calculations of those alive, even in 2017, difficult to maintain.

The Department of Defense Vietnam War Service Index officially provided by The War Library originally reported with errors that 2,709,918 U.S. military personnel as having served in-country. Corrections and confirmations to this errored index resulted in the addition of 358 U.S. military personnel confirmed to have served in Vietnam but not originally listed by the Department of Defense (All names are currently on file and accessible 24/7/365).

Isolated atrocities committed by American Soldiers produced torrents of outrage from anti-war critics and the news media while Communist atrocities were so common that they received hardly any media mention at all. The United States sought to minimize and prevent attacks on civilians while North Vietnam made attacks on civilians a centerpiece of its strategy. Americans who deliberately killed civilians received prison sentences while Communists who did so received commendations. From 1957 to 1973, the National Liberation Front assassinated 36,725 Vietnamese and abducted another 58,499. The death squads focused on leaders at the village level and on anyone who improved the lives of the peasants such as medical personnel, social workers, and school teachers. – Nixon Presidential Papers.

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The United States Did Not Lose The War In Vietnam, The South Vietnamese Did. Read On…

The fall of Saigon happened 30 April 1975, two years AFTER the American military left Vietnam. The last American troops departed in their entirety 29 March 1973.

How could we lose a war we had already stopped fighting? We fought to an agreed stalemate. The peace settlement was signed in Paris on 27 January 1973. It called for release of all U.S. prisoners, withdrawal of U.S. forces, limitation of both sides’ forces inside South Vietnam and a commitment to peaceful reunification. The 140,000 evacuees in April 1975 during the fall of Saigon consisted almost entirely of civilians and Vietnamese military, NOT American military running for their lives. There were almost twice as many casualties in Southeast Asia (primarily Cambodia) the first two years, after the fall of Saigon in 1975, than there were during the ten years the U.S. was involved in Vietnam. Thanks for the perceived loss and the countless assassinations and torture visited upon Vietnamese, Laotians, and Cambodians goes mainly to the American media and their undying support-by-misrepresentation of the anti-War movement in the United States.

As with much of the Vietnam War, the news media misreported and misinterpreted the 1968 Tet Offensive. It was reported as an overwhelming success for the Communist forces and a decided defeat for the U.S. forces. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite initial victories by the Communists forces, the Tet Offensive resulted in a major defeat of those forces. General Vo Nguyen Giap, the designer of the Tet Offensive, is considered by some as ranking with Wellington, Grant, Lee and MacArthur as a great commander. Still, militarily, the Tet Offensive was a total defeat of the Communist forces on all fronts. It resulted in the death of some 45,000 NVA troops and the complete, if not total destruction of the Viet Cong elements in South Vietnam. The Organization of the Viet Cong Units in the South never recovered. The Tet Offensive succeeded on only one front and that was the News front and the political arena. This was another example in the Vietnam War of an inaccuracy becoming the perceived truth. However, inaccurately reported, the News Media made the Tet Offensive famous.

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High wind warnings blanket Sierra Nevada region in California, Nevada: See maps

The biggest snowstorm of the season is underway in portions of California and Nevada, where snow will be measured in feet, not inches. Some portions of the Sierra Nevada could see as much as 10 to 12 feet of snow by the time the storm winds down early next week.

Howling winds, already measured at over 100 mph in some spots, will add to the weather misery for the people who live in the affected areas.

As of Friday, more than 500,000 people in the two states live where a blizzard warning was in effect, the National Weather Service said.

Storm impacts

Forecasters say the winter storm will cause "whiteout blizzard conditions" and travel will be "extremely dangerous to impossible."

The storm will not only close major roads in the passes but may bury and isolate communities for an extended time,  AccuWeather  meteorologists warn.

The combination of heavy snow and high winds is likely to lead to power outages that could take days if not weeks to resolve in isolated areas, AccuWeather said.

Backcountry avalanche warnings were in place around Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park stretching down to Mammoth Lakes.

At Yosemite National Park, visitors were told to leave the park as soon as possible – no later than noon Friday. The park is closed at least through noon Sunday, with the possibility that could be extended, park officials said on social media.

Weekend snowfall could push Sierra totals above average

Snowfall is often measured by water year, which is Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. Here's how this water year compares with the median and last year's record-breaker:

While this year's snowfall is not close to last year at the same time, there's still a chance the totals could be above average. The Tahoe region saw ⁠ 19.1 inches of snow in a 24-hour period from Thursday morning to Friday morning. "With the largest part of the storm still ahead of us and only being 38 inches from the March 4 average of 270 inches, we have a significant chance of getting to average snowfall for that date or ending up above it," said Andrew Schwartz, lead scientist and manager at the  Central Sierra Snow Laboratory , a University of California, Berkeley field research station at Donner Pass in California's Sierra Nevada.

There's also promise in the future after all the snow melts. "We're already at 102% of the water contained in the snowpack after starting the year in January at only 28%, that is promising for the water supply this year," said Schwartz.

'A legitimate blizzard'

“This will be a legitimate blizzard,” University of California, Los Angeles climate scientist Daniel Swain said during an online briefing Thursday.

Officially, the National Weather Service defines a blizzard as a storm that contains large amounts of snow or blowing snow, with winds over 35 mph and visibilities of less than 1/4 mile for an extended time (at least 3 hours).

Precautions while driving in winter weather

Driving in snow can be treacherous. Here’s what to do if you get stranded while driving in a winter storm:

  • If you get stuck and can't dig out, stay with the vehicle and don't walk outside in severe weather. 
  • Keep a dome light on because it uses a small amount of electricity.
  • Attach a brightly colored cloth to the car window. 
  • Conserve gas by turning the engine on periodically to warm the car. 
  • Make sure the tailpipe is clear of snow.

Contributing: The Associated Press

SOURCE NOAA, National Weather Service, AccuWeather, UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab and USA TODAY research

Russia averaged nearly 1,000 casualties per day in February, marking a new record, UK intel says

  • Russia averaged nearly 1,000 casualties per day in February in Ukraine, the UK Ministry of Defence said.
  • The high rate likely reflects "Russia's commitment to mass and attritional warfare," the MoD said.
  • While Russia's tactics are costly, they have increased pressure on Ukrainian positions.

Insider Today

Russian forces suffered an average of 983 casualties per day in Ukraine in February, the highest since the war began, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in an intelligence update on Sunday.

The UK department said the increase in casualties, which included both killed and wounded soldiers, was likely due to "Russia's commitment to mass and attritional warfare."

In February, Russia finally captured the embattled Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, which sits just north of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

War analysts have noted that Russia's tactics to take Avdiivka often involved "human wave" assaults , attempting to overwhelm Ukrainian positions with large numbers of Russian soldiers on foot.

One Ukrainian commander said in January that they could kill 40 to 70 Russian soldiers per day, but they would just send another wave the next day.

"Assault after assault, non-stop," he said.

The UK department said that Russia's tactics were "costly in terms of human life," but it noted that they had increased pressure on Ukrainian positions on the front lines.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously suggested that Russian commanders do not value the lives of their men and that they "conscript corpses."

Russia has likely had 355,000 personnel killed and wounded during the war, the MoD noted.

While Ukraine has been suffering from manpower shortages , Russia has adopted a number of tactics to replenish its forces, including raising the age of conscription for a year of military service to 30.

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Watch: Drone footage shows thousands of Russians fleeing Putin's draft to fight in Ukraine

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  • Main content

Ukraine-Russia war latest: Storm over leaked military recording - as Ukraine 'launches cyberattack on Russian defence ministry'

Germany's ambassador is seen at the Russian foreign ministry after the leak of a military recording - which a former UK minister says is a "major breakdown in secure communications". Meanwhile, Ukraine claims it has launched a cyberattack on Russia's defence ministry.

Monday 4 March 2024 15:49, UK

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  • German ambassador seen visiting Russian foreign ministry amid storm over leaked military recording
  • Leak of German officers discussing British operations on ground in Ukraine 'a major breakdown in secure communications'
  • Blasts hit railway bridge in Russia - reports
  • Ukraine 'launches cyberattack on Russian defence ministry' - and says it has seen classified documents
  • Analysis: How damaging is German phone call leak?
  • Live reporting by Bhvishya Patel

Police in Dnipropetrovsk have detonated an unexploded Russian warhead, believed to be part of a Russian KH-59 missile. 

The missile had failed to explode when it was shut down. 

You can watch footage of the explosion below...

Hungary's foreign minister has said conditions are not yet right for a meeting between Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 

Peter Szijjarto said a meeting of the two leaders would require "some preconditions", according to Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti. 

"At the moment, these conditions for organising the meeting are far from being ready," he added.

Relations between Hungary and Ukraine have remained strained during Russia's invasion, with Budapest consistently opposing sanctions on Moscow and maintaining close relations with Vladimir Putin.

Hungary has been at loggerheads with Ukraine since 2017 over a Ukrainian education law which made it difficult to study Hungarian in Ukrainian schools. 

Meanwhile, Kyiv was angered by a meeting between Mr Orban and Mr Putin in October last year where the two leaders shook hands and posed for photos. 

Mr Zelenskyy and Mr Orban were last seen having a tense conversation on the sidelines of the inauguration of Argentina's President Javier Milei in December last year. 

The Ukrainian president later said he had asked Mr Orban for one reason why Hungary was blocking Ukraine's EU membership. 

In late January, Ukraine said it was working to organise an official visit by Mr Orban. 

We reported earlier that UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi was planning to visit Russia tomorrow (see post at 12.45pm).

Now, reports are emerging that Rafael Grossi may speak to Vladimir Putin during his visit.

During a news conference, Mr Grossi said his trip to Russia had been long been planned and he had originally intended to go there last month after a trip to Ukraine.

The IAEA chief continued that there were issues related to the future operational status of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Although Mr Grossi stopped short of spelling out that he would meet Mr Putin, he said: "It's the idea. This is the intention."

He left open what other issues might be discussed.

Germany has rejected reports that Moscow summoned the German ambassador and said the appointment was long planned.

Earlier today, Russian media reported that Moscow summoned Alexander Graf Lambsdorff to Russia's foreign ministry in Moscow.

It comes days after the release of an audio recording on social media purporting to show German officers discussing support for Ukraine.

But now, Christian Wagner, Germany's foreign office spokesperson, has said Mr Lambsdorff had a meeting that had "already been scheduled for some time".

"In this respect, I can answer your question as to whether he got summoned with a simple no. We will not go into detail about the content here," he said.

Mitko Mueller, Germany's defence ministry spokesperson, said the meeting saw "an exchange of ideas between the officers".

Recent strikes by Russia have "highly likely damaged Ukrainian power plants and electrical substations", the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said in its latest update.

The ministry said last month Russia had undertaken a "campaign of one-way attack" against Ukrainian infrastructure.

"These attacks have taken place across Ukraine with damage being inflicted on regional power infrastructure, including in Donetsk, Dnipro and as far west as Lviv," the ministry said.

It noted that Russia had "sought to target regional power facilities to degrade industrial activities in Ukraine".

"Despite these attacks, Ukraine's power network is maintaining stable network operations," it added.

Germany should evaluate every possibility when it comes to supporting Ukraine but the situation on missile deliveries is "clear", the country's foreign minister has said.

When asked about giving long-range Taurus weapons to Kyiv during a visit to Montenegro, Annalena Baerbock said: "In my view the factual situation is very, very clear."

It should be noted here that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has ruled out arming Ukraine with Taurus missiles.

He has also said he will not accept any decision that would get German soldiers involved in the war.

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi plans to visit Russia tomorrow, the RIA news agency reports.

The visit comes weeks after Mr Grossi visited Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to see if it could be run with a reduced number of staff and whether its years-old uranium fuel was safe.

Russia gained control of Europe's largest nuclear power plant after launching its invasion and the spectre of an incident remains ongoing. 

A Putin ally has claimed Ukraine is part of Russia and ruled out peace talks with the current Ukrainian leadership.

In a speech in southern Russia, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said Russia will continue its "special military operation".

"One of Ukraine's former leaders said at some point that Ukraine is not Russia," Mr Medvedev said.

"That concept needs to disappear forever. Ukraine is definitely Russia."

He ruled out peace talks with the current Ukrainian leadership and said any future Ukrainian government that wanted talks would need to recognise what he called the new reality on the ground.

Commenting on East-West relations, Mr Medvedev, who accused US special forces and military advisers of waging war against Russia, said that ties between Moscow and Washington were worse than during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

What was the Cuban Missile Crisis?

The crisis was a 13-day confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

It is widely considered that this was the closest the two superpowers came to nuclear conflict. 

The leaked audio of a conversation by ranking German military officers is "high-level embarrassment", Sky News Europe correspondent Adam Parsons says.

He says Russia is "doing everything it can to make this appear as damaging as possible" and is saying the audio is evidence there are British and French groups on the ground in Ukraine.

"That is partially based on the fact that in this transcript the Germans are saying 'we know they are there and they are monitoring the use of their cruise missiles but Chancellor Olaf Scholz won't approve sending German soldiers into Ukraine'".

Parsons notes Mr Scholz himself just a few days ago "referred to British and French troops being in Ukraine".

While Germany's defence minister, Boris Pistorius, has deemed the leak a "disinformation attack", Parsons says: "The Germans have confirmed this is a legitimate recording, so I don't think you can say it is misinformation when they say it is real.

"It is certainly an effort to sow division on a few grounds."

He says the intercepted call "distracts the world from the funeral of Alexei Navalny" and "increases pressure on Mr Scholz not to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine".

It also "creates mistrust between important allies supporting Ukraine".

Parson adds: "This is very high-level embarrassment."

Survivors of conflict-related sexual violence "remind us all that we must not turn our backs on the horrors of this crime", the Duchess of Edinburgh has said.

Speaking in an address at the Restoration of the Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Survivors' Rights Conference via video-link, the royal said the scale of sexual violence during times of conflict was "enormous".

"As we gather here today, thousands of women, men, boys and girls are being subjected to sexual violence in order to demean, over-power and destroy," she said.

She said in Ukraine, female and male survivors had "bravely recounted their experiences of the most appalling atrocities they have endured, since the start of the war in 2022".

"They are the most powerful advocates who remind us all that we must not turn our backs on the horrors of this crime; we must never forget the survivors," she added.

"Rather, we must stand shoulder to shoulder with all survivors to secure justice and holistic redress, and ensure that this crime isn't an accepted part of conflict."

The Duchess's message was played this morning at the conference hosted by the government of Ukraine and attended by the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska. 

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IMAGES

  1. Facing retention issues, the Corps needs to recruit highest number of

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  2. Military deployments: What do Marines do between tours?

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  3. Becoming a Marine

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  4. Marines bid farewell to senior leader > 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit

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  5. Marines Honor Women's History Month > II Marine Expeditionary Force

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  6. Marine Corps Jobs List Asvab Scores

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COMMENTS

  1. PDF Tour Lengths and Tours of Duty OCONUS

    The standard tour length for a DoD Service member stationed OCONUS is 36 months in an accompanied tour and 24 months in an unaccompanied tour. Hawaii and Alaska are exceptions, with a tour length of 36 months for both accompanied and unaccompanied tours. Military Departments or Combatant Commands may provide conclusive evidence that a specific ...

  2. What Is a Military Tour of Duty? (With Length of Tours)

    The typical TOD for the Marine Corps lasts from six to 12 months. The length of the tour varies depending on the type of mission. There are six different tours that a Marine Corps can complete. They include: Unit Deployment Program (UDP): Usually, UDP lasts up to six months. It reduces the number of tours that a marine can go on unaccompanied.

  3. Tour of duty

    For military personnel, a tour of duty is usually a period of time spent in combat or in a hostile environment. In an army, for instance, soldiers on active duty serve 24 hours a day, seven days a week for the length of their service commitment. Soldiers in World War II were deployed for the entire war and could be in active service for 4-5 ...

  4. Sgt. Robert Bales and multiple tours of duty: How many is too many

    Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive. Twenty percent of active-duty Army troops are on at least their third tour of duty to a war zone. Sgt. Robert Bales, suspected of slaying ...

  5. Military Deployment Branch Basics

    Generally, deployment means a scheduled time away from the normal duty station, usually outside of the United States. It may mean seven months on a Navy ship, 12 months at a forward operating base or three months in a town with restaurants and shops you'd recognize back home. Sometimes your service member may serve in dangerous situations ...

  6. How Long Are Marines Usually Deployed?

    Length of Deployment. The Marine Corps accounts for 12 percent of the military's deployments since September 11, 2011, with just over 359,000 Marines deploying at one time or another. The average length of deployment for a Marine is 12 months, but the length can vary depending on the type of deployment. Deployment is any time an individual or ...

  7. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

    The Marine Corps provides a full benefits package, including salary, medical, housing, vacation, and other standard benefits. In addition, every Marine acquires invaluable leadership skills and also receives the honor of being called a United States Marine. A Marine Recruiter can explain the benefits of the Marine Corps in further detail.

  8. How Long is a Tour of Duty? A Comprehensive Guide

    A Comprehensive Guide to Military Tour of Duty Lengths. The average tour of duty for members of the US Armed Forces is 12 months. However, there are several different types of tours of duty and different lengths associated with them. These include temporary duty assignments, permanent change of station (PCS) tours, and deployments. ...

  9. Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom: Demographics

    Since the beginning of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2001, over 1.9 million US military personnel have been deployed in 3 million tours of duty lasting more than 30 days as part of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) or Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) (Table 2.1). Those wars are fundamentally different from the first Gulf War and other previous wars (see Chapter 3) in their heavy dependence ...

  10. How Long Is A Tour Of Duty In The Military?

    Units of Marines can also deploy for combat operations. In these cases, the tour of duty duration is dependent on the military's needs in engagement with enemy forces. However, the length is limited by DoD policy, based on the location. Conus-side, a stateside tour of duty for Marines is generally 36 months or 3 years.

  11. Salary & Compensation

    The chain of command for the Marine Corps ranks is divided into two groups: Enlisted Marines and Marine Officers. The majority of Marines are enlisted. Enlisted Marines begin at the most junior ranks: private, private first class, and lance corporal. Private has a paygrade of E-1, and each rank has a corresponding paygrade from E-1 through E-9.

  12. Military Personnel: Longer Time Between Moves Related to Higher

    The shorter average PCS tour length of the Marine Corps may be due to its greater proportion of first- term enlisted personnel (42 percent) relative to the other services (which range from 18 to 23 percent), which would put more Marines in that early career training window. The average length of time between PCS moves was also related to ...

  13. Those With Multiple Tours of War Overseas Struggle at Home

    After 14 years of war, the number of veterans with multiple tours of combat duty is the largest in modern American history — more than 90,000 soldiers and Marines, many of them elite fighters ...

  14. Tour Lengths

    1000 Military Personnel 4000 Logistics 5000 Gen Admin 6000 Medicine 7000 Financial Updated New Cancelled Articles NEOCS Manual ... It is important that you be aware of tour length requirements to ensure you are setting yourself up for success EARLY in your career. At the junior officer level, tour lengths are important because they impact ...

  15. Singapore InterContinental Hotel will pay you if it rains on your ...

    It rains an average of 171 days per year in Singapore. But one hotel in the Lion City is taking a gamble to ensure that rain doesn't spoil its guests' holidays. The InterContinental Singapore ...

  16. Veteran Travel Reimbursement Headaches Prompt VA to ...

    Elizabeth Oomps, wife of retired Marine Maj. Lloyd Oomps, accompanied her husband to a medical appointment Nov. 7 at the Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic in Cambridge, Maryland, 96 miles from ...

  17. Service Members and Vets Belonging to Racial Minority ...

    The military and veterans' communities have spent years trying to combat suicide rates much higher than the national average. But within those communities, Americans belonging to racial minority ...

  18. Ask A Marine: Deployment Experience

    As our Nation's force in readiness, the Marine Corps has bases and operations all over the world. All Marines are highly trained, battle tested and deployed ...

  19. PDF 2020 Demographics Profile Marine Corps Active Duty Members

    Male Marine Corps members. Race/Ethnicity. 20.2%. of Marine Corps members are in Racial Minority groups*. 8.9%. Female Marine Corps members. 23.5%. of Marine Corps members are Hispanic or Latino. *Racial minority includes Black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other.

  20. 'Millions' of Veterans Exposed to Environmental Hazards Will Be

    Millions of U.S. veterans will be eligible beginning March 5 for health care with the Department of Veterans Affairs under an accelerated effort to provide benefits and services to those exposed ...

  21. U.S. servicemen sent to Vietnam for second tours

    U.S. Defense Department officials announce that the Army and Marines will be sending about 24,000 men back to Vietnam for involuntary second tours because of the length of the war, high turnover ...

  22. Here Are 22 Things Only Marines Know About the Corps

    The cycle is never-ending. 7. Marines are tough as nails - In 1959, Marine Lt. Col. William Rankin is the only known person to survive a fall from the top of a cumulonimbus thunderstorm cloud. He ejected from his plane at 47,000 feet and fell 40 minutes through the middle of the storm and survived. 8.

  23. PDF Department of Defense INSTRUCTION

    attractiveness and professional development, sustaining an assignment base for overseas tours of duty, achieving stability for tour completions, developing tour lengths consistent with ... Memorandum of Agreement between the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Marine Corps, May 5, 2011 (r) DoD Instruction 1327.06, "Leave and Liberty Policy ...

  24. US Military Barracks Tour: What Army, Navy, and Marine rooms look like

    Though of course, there are always exceptions. Things look quite different at Fort Polk in Louisiana, where one soldier used a keycard to open a door to reveal a small living room, kitchen ...

  25. Vietnam War Facts, Stats and Myths

    9,087,000 military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975. 2,709,918 Americans served in uniform in Vietnam. ... The average age of the men killed: 23.1 years. Veteran Successes. Vietnam Veterans represented 9.7% of their generation.

  26. Winter storm warning map: California, Nevada brace for 100 mph winds

    While this year's snowfall is not close to last year at the same time, there's still a chance the totals could be above average. The Tahoe region saw ⁠ 19.1 inches of snow in a 24-hour period ...

  27. Russia Suffered Nearly 1,000 Casualties Per Day in February: UK Intel

    Russian forces suffered an average of 983 casualties per day in Ukraine in February, the highest since the war began, the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in an intelligence update on Sunday ...

  28. US and UK carry out fresh strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen

    The Pentagon says US and UK fighter planes have carried out strikes on 18 Houthi sites in Yemen - the fourth such joint operation by the allies. The US says Saturday's strikes were directed ...

  29. Ukraine-Russia war latest: Storm over leaked military recording

    Germany's ambassador is summoned to the Russian foreign ministry over a leaked military recording - which a former UK minister says is a "major breakdown in secure communications". Meanwhile ...

  30. How long did soldiers serve during WWII? Were there set ...

    It should be noted that the US military still has this policy of rotating pilots between operational commands and training commands. In the Navy, you are expected after your first operational three-year tour in a fleet squadron to pick up some sort of training/development aviation three-year tour to either train the next generation of ...