Military veterans Books

Book SynopsisTwo combat-related conditions that affect some veterans who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan and that have generated widespread concern among policymakers are post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and traumatic brain injury (TBI). This book explores the clinical care that the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the health care system within the Department of Veterans Affairs, provides for recent combat veterans; VHA''s co-ordination with the Department of Defense for the care of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan; the prevalence of PTSD and TBI among veterans of those conflicts and the occurrence of those conditions among recent combat veterans using VHA''s services; and the costs to VHA of providing care and management to recent combat veterans for these conditions.

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Book SynopsisIn approximately 10 years of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, over 283,000 female members have been deployed, over 800 have been wounded and over 130 have died. On numerous occasions women have been recognised for their heroism, two earning Silver Star medals. This outcome has resulted in a renewed interest in Congress, the Administration, and beyond in reviewing and possibly refining or redefining the role of women in the military. This book examines the role of women in combat with a focus on the laws, policies and regulations restricting the service of female members in the U.S. Armed Forces and the perceptions and current operational environment.

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Book SynopsisThe United States Military Academy at WestPoint is one of America’s oldest and most reveredinstitutions. Founded in 1802, its first and onlymission is to prepare young men—and, since1976, young women—to be leaders of characterfor service as commissioned officers in the UnitedStates Army.Carved from Granite is the story of how West Pointgoes about producing military leaders of character.As scholar and Academy graduate Lance Betrosshows, West Point’s early history is interestingand colorful, but its history since then is far morerelevant to the issues—and problems—that face theAcademy today.Betros describes and assesses how well West Point hasaccomplished its mission— not hesitating to exposeproblems and challenge long-held assumptions.Here is the most authoritative history of the modernUnited States Military Academy written to date.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines the eligibility requirements, benefit availability, benefit payments, participation, and obligations of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which provides benefits to veterans and servicemembers who serve on active duty after September 10, 2001. Participants may be eligible for payments to cover tuition and fees, housing, books and supplies, tutorial and relocation assistance, and testing and certification fees.

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Book SynopsisThe Air Force currently plans to spend $11.7 billion to modernize and improve reliability of the F-22A, its fifth generation air superiority fighter. Originally designed to counter air threats posed by the former Soviet Union, the post-Cold War era spurred efforts to add new missions and capabilities to the F-22A, including improved air-to-air and robust air-to-ground attack capabilities. This book provides an analysis of the modernization program for the F-22A fighter jet, with a focus on cost, technical and sustainment risks; and a comparison with the Legacy fighter modernization program.

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Book SynopsisThe Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has assisted veterans with home-ownership since 1944, when Congress enacted the loan guaranty program to help veterans returning from World War II purchase homes. The loan guaranty program assists veterans by insuring mortgages made by private lenders, and is available for the purchase or construction of homes as well as to refinance existing loans. A third way in which the VA provides housing assistance to both veterans and active duty service members is through the Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) Program. Through the SAH program, veterans with certain service-connected disabilities may obtain grants from the VA to purchase or remodel homes to fit their needs. This book discusses these three types of housing assistance; the loan guaranty program, direct loan programs, and Specially Adapted Housing program -- their origins, how they operate, and how they are funded. Additionally, the default and foreclosure of VA-guaranteed loans is discussed.

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Book SynopsisCongress, through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), provides a variety of benefits and services to veterans and to certain members of their families. These benefits include disability compensation and pensions, education benefits, survivor benefits, medical treatment, life insurance, vocational rehabilitation, and burial and memorial benefits. In order to receive these benefits, a veteran (or an eligible family member) must apply for them by submitting the necessary information to a local VA office. The local VA office will make an initial determination on the application for benefits. Any veteran who is not satisfied with the local VA''s determination is permitted to appeal the decision. This book provides a step-by-step breakdown of the appeal process for veterans'' claims.

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Book SynopsisThe VA/DoD published the first Clinical Practice Guideline for management of opioid therapy for chronic pain in 2003. This original publication was intended to improve pain management, quality of life, and quality of care for veterans. The focus of the guideline has been to provide education and guidance to primary care clinicians, researchers and other health professionals as they encounter patients with persistent pain and its complications. This book aims to update the evidence base of the 2003 Guideline. It is focused, as was the original CPG, on chronic opioid therapy (opioid therapy for more than one month). It is directed to the clinician who is interested in knowing more about this approach to the management of chronic pain.

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Book SynopsisDeficiencies exposed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 2007 served as a catalyst compelling the Departments of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) to address a host of problems for wounded, ill, and injured service-members and veterans as they navigate through the recovery care continuum. This continuum extends from acute medical treatment and stabilization, through rehabilitation to reintegration, either back to active duty or to the civilian community as a veteran. In spite of 5 years of departmental efforts, recovering service-members and veterans are still facing problems with this process and may not be getting the services they need. This book provides an overview and assessment of the care and benefit management system for recovering service-members and veterans.

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Book SynopsisContemporary veterans belong to an exclusive American group. Celebrated by most of the country, they are nevertheless often poorly understood by the same people who applaud their service. Following the introduction of an all-volunteer force after the war in Vietnam, only a tiny fraction of Americans now join the armed services, making the contemporary soldier, and the veteran by extension, increasingly less representative of mainstream society. Veterans have come to comprise their own distinct tribe—modern praetorians, permanently set apart from society by what they have seen and experienced.In an engrossing narrative that considers the military, economic, political, and social developments affecting military service after Vietnam, Michael D. Gambone investigates how successive generations have intentionally shaped their identity as veterans. The New Praetorians also highlights the impact of their homecoming, the range of educational opportunities open to veterans, the health care challenges they face, and the unique experiences of minority and women veterans. This groundbreaking study illustrates an important and often neglected group that is key to our understanding of American social history and civil-military affairs.

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Book SynopsisContemporary veterans belong to an exclusive American group. Celebrated by most of the country, they are nevertheless often poorly understood by the same people who applaud their service. Following the introduction of an all-volunteer force after the war in Vietnam, only a tiny fraction of Americans now join the armed services, making the contemporary soldier, and the veteran by extension, increasingly less representative of mainstream society. Veterans have come to comprise their own distinct tribe—modern praetorians, permanently set apart from society by what they have seen and experienced.In an engrossing narrative that considers the military, economic, political, and social developments affecting military service after Vietnam, Michael D. Gambone investigates how successive generations have intentionally shaped their identity as veterans. The New Praetorians also highlights the impact of their homecoming, the range of educational opportunities open to veterans, the health care challenges they face, and the unique experiences of minority and women veterans. This groundbreaking study illustrates an important and often neglected group that is key to our understanding of American social history and civil-military affairs.

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Book SynopsisTrust in media and political institutions is at an all-time low in America, yet veterans enjoy an unmatched level of credibility and moral authority. Their war stories have become crucial testimony about the nation's leadership, foreign policies, and wars. Veterans' memoirs are not simply self-revelatory personal chronicles but contributions to political culture—to the stories circulated and incorporated into national myths and memories. American War Stories centers on an extensive selection of memoirs written by veterans of the Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan conflicts—including Brian Turner's My Life as a Foreign Country, Marcus Luttrell's Lone Survivor, and Camilo Mejia's Road from ar Ramadi—to explore the complex relationship between memory and politics in the context of postmodern war. Placing veterans' stories in conversation with broader cultural and political discourses, Myra Mendible analyzes the volatile mix of agendas, identities, and issues informing veteran-writers' narrative choices to argue that their work plays an important, though underexamined, political function in how Americans remember and judge their wars.

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Book SynopsisWartime military service is held up as a marker of civic duty and patriotism, yet the rewards of veteran status have never been equally distributed. Certain groups of military veterans—women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and former service members with stigmatizing conditions, "bad paper" discharges, or criminal records—have been left out of official histories, excised from national consciousness, and denied state recognition and military benefits.Chronicling the untold stories of marginalized veterans in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Service Denied uncovers the generational divides, cultural stigmas, and discriminatory policies that affected veterans during and after their military service. Together, the chapters in this collection recast veterans beyond the archetype, inspiring an innovative model for veterans studies that encourages an intersectional and interdisciplinary analysis of veterans history. In addition to contributions from the volume editors, this collection features scholarship by Barbara Gannon, Robert Jefferson, Evan P. Sullivan, Steven Rosales, Heather Marie Stur, Juan Coronado, Kara Dixon Vuic, John Worsencroft, and David Kieran.

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Book SynopsisWartime military service is held up as a marker of civic duty and patriotism, yet the rewards of veteran status have never been equally distributed. Certain groups of military veterans—women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and former service members with stigmatizing conditions, "bad paper" discharges, or criminal records—have been left out of official histories, excised from national consciousness, and denied state recognition and military benefits.Chronicling the untold stories of marginalized veterans in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Service Denied uncovers the generational divides, cultural stigmas, and discriminatory policies that affected veterans during and after their military service. Together, the chapters in this collection recast veterans beyond the archetype, inspiring an innovative model for veterans studies that encourages an intersectional and interdisciplinary analysis of veterans history. In addition to contributions from the volume editors, this collection features scholarship by Barbara Gannon, Robert Jefferson, Evan P. Sullivan, Steven Rosales, Heather Marie Stur, Juan Coronado, Kara Dixon Vuic, John Worsencroft, and David Kieran.

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Book SynopsisThe United States has both the largest, most expensive, and most powerful military and the largest, most expensive, and most punitive carceral system in the history of the world. Since the American War in Vietnam, the number of veterans who have been incarcerated after their military service has steadily increased, with over 100,000 veterans in prison today. Identifying the previously unrecognized connections between American wars and mass incarceration, Prisoners after War reaches across lines of race, class, and gender to record the untold history of incarcerated veterans over the past six decades. Having conducted dozens of oral history interviews, Jason A. Higgins traces the lifelong effects of war, inequality, disability, and mental illness, and explores why hundreds of thousands of veterans, from Vietnam to Afghanistan, were caught up in the carceral system. This original study tells an intergenerational history of state-sanctioned violence, punishment, and inequality, but its pages also resonate with stories of survival and redemption, revealing future possibilities for reform and reparative justice.Trade ReviewPrisoners after War is on the cutting edge. It will appeal to a wide array of readers, including scholars of carceral and military history, social scientists interested in the intersections of veterans’ service and reentry, and crucially, general audiences curious about the lived experiences of criminalization and incarceration." - Melanie D. Newport, author of This is My Jail: Local Politics and the Rise and Mass Incarceration

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Book SynopsisThe United States has both the largest, most expensive, and most powerful military and the largest, most expensive, and most punitive carceral system in the history of the world. Since the American War in Vietnam, the number of veterans who have been incarcerated after their military service has steadily increased, with over 100,000 veterans in prison today. Identifying the previously unrecognized connections between American wars and mass incarceration, Prisoners after War reaches across lines of race, class, and gender to record the untold history of incarcerated veterans over the past six decades. Having conducted dozens of oral history interviews, Jason A. Higgins traces the lifelong effects of war, inequality, disability, and mental illness, and explores why hundreds of thousands of veterans, from Vietnam to Afghanistan, were caught up in the carceral system. This original study tells an intergenerational history of state-sanctioned violence, punishment, and inequality, but its pages also resonate with stories of survival and redemption, revealing future possibilities for reform and reparative justice.Trade ReviewPrisoners after War is on the cutting edge. It will appeal to a wide array of readers, including scholars of carceral and military history, social scientists interested in the intersections of veterans’ service and reentry, and crucially, general audiences curious about the lived experiences of criminalization and incarceration." - Melanie D. Newport, author of This is My Jail: Local Politics and the Rise and Mass Incarceration

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Book SynopsisThe 2012 Suicide Data Report contains prevalence data and characteristics of suicide among Veterans and evidence of change in outcomes among Veterans at risk for suicide. The book provides an overview and analysis of information collected through collaborative data sharing agreements with U.S. states, reports of non-fatal suicide events among Veterans using VHA services and analysis of data obtained from the Veterans Crisis Line.

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Book SynopsisSince 1976, the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program has provided education and training to foreign military personnel. The program''s objectives include professionalising military forces and increasing respect for democratic values and human rights. In 2010, Congress appropriated $108 million in IMET funding for more than 120 countries. The Department of State and the Department of Defense share responsibility for IMET. This book assesses changes in the program from fiscal years 2000 to 2010, by funding levels, students trained, and recipient countries; the program''s provision of and emphasis on human rights training for its students; and the extent to which the Department of State and the Department of Defense monitor IMET graduates and evaluate program effectiveness.

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Book SynopsisUnbreakable Bonds tells ten touching stories of mothers who spent years aiding the recovery of their children, US soldiers and Marines who suffered severe injuries during the War on Terror. The survival of these wounded warriors is a testament not only to the extraordinary efforts of military medical personnel and their own inner fortitude, but also to their mothers. These women put their lives on hold from the moment they get that first call about their injured son or daughter, giving up their homes and careers and leaving behind family and friends. They are ever present, from those agonizing early days in intensive care, through dozens of lifesaving operations and the months and years of both triumphs and setbacks during therapy and rehabilitation. Their commitment, like the wounds their children suffer, is lifelong.Unbreakable Bonds showcases the selfless love and support of the mothers who, like their wounded warriors, have been changed forever, and who have, without hesitation, sacrificed greatly for their country. They also find strength through the exclusive network of caregivers, who are there not only for their sons and daughters, but for each other as well. With forewords from former president George H. W. Bush and former Maryland congresswoman Connie Morella, this book will appeal to US service members and their loved ones—and those without ties to the military will gain appreciation for those who risk so much to serve our country.Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.Trade Review"Even as we can never fully repay our military families for their service here at home, the ten mothers featured in this moving portrait give us yet another gift—their stories, courage, and enduring love." —Nancy Pelosi"Movingly relates the untold story of selfless devotion, duty, and strength demonstrated by military family caregivers that is so instrumental to the recovery and rehabilitation of our nation’s wounded warriors. This is a must-read for Americans in every corner of the country to truly understand the challenges of postwar recovery on the home front." —Senator Elizabeth Dole"Its discussion of the nature of family, duty, and service is a tour de force. . . . It is a book not of happy endings, but of small and improbable triumphs." —Weekly Standard"The mothers of the wounded have played an important role in their recovery since man invented war—stories that have gone untold. Guerin and Ferris capture the sadness and joy, compassion, persistence, fierce advocacy, and courage in ten inspiring stories—stories of love." —David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States"Chronicles an amazing fusion of moral courage and limitless love. It tells the story of motherhood, tested and unbroken, and in doing so, it radiates wisdom, tenacity, compassion, and resolve on every page. Sparta's Leonidas was right. A mother's strength is the warrior's ultimate inspiration." —Colonel Paul McHale (US Marine Corps, Ret.), former congressman and former assistant secretary of defense"These mothers are heroes in their own right. They have given so much and we must never forget." —Gary Sinise, award-winning actor and philanthropist, founder of the Gary Sinise Foundation, and a champion of service members, veterans, and their families"A touching testament to their strength and resolve, and a must-read for anyone who values the power and perseverance of the human spirit." —Colonel Bob Clement, former congressman (D-TN), US Army (Ret.)"This is a book about courage, about service, and about patriotism. It is a call to arms, because we are in many ways failing a group of heroes that needs our support desperately. This book will have you talking, feeling, and thinking for a long time after you turn the last page." —Peter M. Weichlein, CEO of the US Association of Former Members of Congress"When a service member is wounded, the whole family is wounded and must be a part of the recovery. Unbreakable Bonds will inspire you with the never-ending commitment, strength, and love between these amazing moms and their kids." —Jim Knotts, CEO of Operation Homefront"These ten stories are specific and true. They are also representational, reminding readers of those who have gone to fight on our behalf—and of the endless costs of battles, minefields, inhumane technologies." —Beth Kephart, author of Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir"Mothers with soldier sons and daughters who hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, will want to read Unbreakable Bonds. It’s like a conversation among best friends who share their innermost thoughts about dealing with their adult son’s and daughter’s traumatic injuries. You'll appreciate the honesty, and, even more, the upbeat outlook of these amazing moms." —Liza McFadden, CEO of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy"Even as we can never fully repay our military families for their service here at home, the ten mothers featured in this moving portrait give us yet another gift—their stories, courage, and enduring love." —Nancy Pelosi"Movingly relates the untold story of selfless devotion, duty, and strength demonstrated by military family caregivers that is so instrumental to the recovery and rehabilitation of our nation’s wounded warriors. This is a must-read for Americans in every corner of the country to truly understand the challenges of postwar recovery on the home front." —Senator Elizabeth Dole"Its discussion of the nature of family, duty, and service is a tour de force. . . . It is a book not of happy endings, but of small and improbable triumphs." —Weekly Standard"The mothers of the wounded have played an important role in their recovery since man invented war—stories that have gone untold. Guerin and Ferris capture the sadness and joy, compassion, persistence, fierce advocacy, and courage in ten inspiring stories—stories of love." —David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States"Chronicles an amazing fusion of moral courage and limitless love. It tells the story of motherhood, tested and unbroken, and in doing so, it radiates wisdom, tenacity, compassion, and resolve on every page. Sparta's Leonidas was right. A mother's strength is the warrior's ultimate inspiration." —Colonel Paul McHale (US Marine Corps, Ret.), former congressman and former assistant secretary of defense"These mothers are heroes in their own right. They have given so much and we must never forget." —Gary Sinise, award-winning actor and philanthropist, founder of the Gary Sinise Foundation, and a champion of service members, veterans, and their families"A touching testament to their strength and resolve, and a must-read for anyone who values the power and perseverance of the human spirit." —Colonel Bob Clement, former congressman (D-TN), US Army (Ret.)"This is a book about courage, about service, and about patriotism. It is a call to arms, because we are in many ways failing a group of heroes that needs our support desperately. This book will have you talking, feeling, and thinking for a long time after you turn the last page." —Peter M. Weichlein, CEO of the US Association of Former Members of Congress"When a service member is wounded, the whole family is wounded and must be a part of the recovery. Unbreakable Bonds will inspire you with the never-ending commitment, strength, and love between these amazing moms and their kids." —Jim Knotts, CEO of Operation Homefront"These ten stories are specific and true. They are also representational, reminding readers of those who have gone to fight on our behalf—and of the endless costs of battles, minefields, inhumane technologies." —Beth Kephart, author of Handling the Truth: On the Writing of Memoir"Mothers with soldier sons and daughters who hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, will want to read Unbreakable Bonds. It’s like a conversation among best friends who share their innermost thoughts about dealing with their adult son’s and daughter’s traumatic injuries. You'll appreciate the honesty, and, even more, the upbeat outlook of these amazing moms." —Liza McFadden, CEO of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy

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Book SynopsisIn fiscal year 2012, various VA education programs provided nearly $11 billion in education payments to almost 1 million veterans. The 2008 Post-9/11 GI Bill significantly increased education benefits for veterans and provided separate payments for tuition and fees, for housing expenses, and for books. In fiscal year 2012, VA made about $8.5 billion in tuition, housing, and other payments under the Post-9/11 GI Bill. This book reviews data on the VA''s education programs. Specifically, the distribution of VA education payments among schools; how student characteristics and outcomes at highly VA-funded schools compare to those of other VA-funded schools; and how student characteristics and outcomes compare at highly VA-funded public, non-profit, and for-profit schools.

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Book SynopsisThis book examines officer in-residence professional military education (PME) as a critical investment in the most important element of our military -- people. The primary purpose of PME is to develop military officers, throughout their careers, for the rigorous intellectual demands of complex contingencies and major conflicts. The authors discuss professional military education two decades after the Goldwater-Nichols Act and the Skelton Panel and provide statements from important hearings on continued engagement.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides an overview of the benefits, issues, policies and programs relating to our military service members. Topics discussed in this issue include health care for rural veterans; further actions needed to collaborate on providing health care to Native American veterans; trends and programs of employment for veterans; the VA vocational rehabilitation and employment program; and includes frequently asked questions on military funeral honours and military cemeteries.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides background information and presents potential issues for Congress concerning the Navy''s ship force-structure goals and shipbuilding plans. It also discusses, among other issues, quality problems in constructing recently delivered ships and Navy actions to improve quality and key practices employed by leading commercial ship buyers and shipbuilders to ensure quality and how these compared with Navy practices.

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Book SynopsisFirearms injuries are considered to be a "privilege" of treatment by military surgeons. It is difficult to find one book that includes all of the knowledge about injuries of the locomotor system caused by firearms, and the treatments of these injuries. This book presents the author''s experience in treating more than 5,000 wounded people in the last war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Authentic images of injuries by firearms and the results of treatment are provided for better understanding of the wounds. The key to success in the treatment of these injuries is the primary surgical treatment of wounds. This includes "sterilising wounds", stabilising of broken bone with or without bone defect, treatment of nerves, and blood vessels and open joints. As a measure for stabilisation of open fractures, an external fixator was used for over 85% in the war in former Yugoslavia. The Author presents in detail his vast experience in treatment of open fractures, peace or war trauma of skin, fat, muscle, bone and open joints. He uses a clear indication of treatment in order to reach complete recovery, or a lesser degree of invalidity. He gives a detailed presentation of when and which methods of treatments should be used to treat bone defects, osteomyelitis, delayed healing, pseudoarthrosis and open joints. The Author shows that he achieves a positive clinical outcome, shorter hospital stay and reduced treatment by using these techniques and methods. This book provides instructions on how to treat the most complex open fractures of the locomotor system as to prevent complications and speed up rehabilitation, which is the most valuable to surgeons and should be available in every hospital, at any time, especially when we have in mind the global fight against terrorism.

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Book SynopsisThe primary objective of the military health system, which includes the Defense Department''s hospitals, clinics, and medical personnel, is to maintain the health of military personnel so they can carry out their military missions and to be prepared to deliver health care during wartime. The military health system also covers dependants of active duty personnel, military retirees and their dependants, including some members of the reserve components. This book answers several frequently asked questions about military health care, and provides responses to frequently asked questions about health care provided to veterans through the Veterans Health Administration.

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Book SynopsisThe unemployment rate for all veterans has risen since the beginning of the economic downturn, but the unemployment rate for Native Americans living on tribal land has been higher. In addition, tribal land is frequently located in remote areas characterised by limited economic development, which can make finding a job challenging. A range of federal programs provide employment assistance that can serve veterans of any race or ethnicity; in addition, other federal programs offer similar services to Native Americans (veterans and non-veterans alike). The Department of Labor''s (DOL) Veterans'' Employment and Training Service administers several grant programs to support eligible veterans through the Jobs for Veterans State Grants Program. This book provides recommendations for improving employment and job training opportunities for Native American Veterans on tribal lands, especially through the utilisation of resources for Veterans; and reviews current and prior government-to-government relations between tribal organisations and the Department of Labor Veterans'' Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS).

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Book SynopsisThe Marine Corps characterises itself as a crisis response expeditionary force which is task organised and able to conduct operations across the entire spectrum of military operations. The Corps is a "middleweight force" that is designed to fill the void in our Nation''s defence structure between light Special Operations Forces (SOF) and heavier conventional units. A number of decisions pertaining to national security strategy, force structure, and declining defence budgets have resulted in a draw-down of the active Marine Corps. This book examines the draw-down of the Marine Corps, as well as the force structure initiatives, roles and missions, and the restructuring of the Marine Corps.

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Book SynopsisThe lengthy delays of benefit claims decisions that persist for Veterans returning home with injuries from recent (and past) conflicts confound their transition from military to civilian community living. This book presents findings of the National Council on Disability and evaluates the perceived factors contributing to the sustained Veterans Administration backlog. The book contains potential solutions and recommended measures to facilitate the resolution of initial disability claims and appeals.

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Book SynopsisThe Civil War ended more than 150 years ago, yet our nation remains fiercely divided over its enduring legacies. In A Thousand May Fall, Pulitzer Prize finalist Brian Matthew Jordan returns us to the war itself, bringing us closer than perhaps any prior historian to the chaos of battle and the trials of military life. Creating an intimate, absorbing chronicle from the ordinary soldier’s perspective, he allows us to see the Civil War anew—and through unexpected eyes. At the heart of Jordan’s vital account is the 107th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, which was at once representative and exceptional. Its ranks weathered the human ordeal of war in painstakingly routine ways, fighting in two defining battles, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, each time in the thick of the killing. But the men of the 107th were not lauded as heroes for their bravery and their suffering. Most of them were ethnic Germans, set apart by language and identity, and their loyalties were regularly questioned by a nativist Northern press. We so often assume that the Civil War was a uniquely American conflict, yet Jordan emphasizes the forgotten contributions made by immigrants to the Union cause. An incredible one quarter of the Union army was foreign born, he shows, with 200,000 native Germans alone fighting to save their adopted homeland and prove their patriotism. In the course of its service, the 107th Ohio was decimated five times over, and although one of its members earned the Medal of Honor for his daring performance in a skirmish in South Carolina, few others achieved any lasting distinction. Reclaiming these men for posterity, Jordan reveals that even as they endured the horrible extremes of war, the Ohioans contemplated the deeper meanings of the conflict at every turn—from personal questions of citizenship and belonging to the overriding matter of slavery and emancipation. Based on prodigious new research, including diaries, letters, and unpublished memoirs, A Thousand May Fall is a pioneering, revelatory history that restores the common man and the immigrant striver to the center of the Civil War. In our age of fractured politics and emboldened nativism, Jordan forces us to confront the wrenching human realities, and often-forgotten stakes, of the bloodiest episode in our nation’s history.Trade Review"Jordan has constructed a humanistic history of how ordinary men became soldiers under extraordinary circumstances none could have foreseen . . . In giving the men of the 107th their hard-earned place in history, Jordan has set a high bar for future historians to meet and a template for exceptional historians to follow." -- Gordon Berg - Civil War Times"Jordan's talent for vivid narrative rivals John Keegan's . . . The story of the 107th Ohio is not one of adventure, brave charges, and celebrations. But this is what makes it a welcome and essential contribution to the scholarship on the common soldier . . . The true strength of his book is its evocation of the dizzyingly complex experience of the men who fought to preserve the Union." -- Angela M. Riotto - Michigan War Studies Review"Historian Jordan (Marching Home) delivers a captivating chronicle of the 107th Ohio Volunteer Infantry during and after the Civil War.... Jordan portrays Ohio as a hotbed of antiwar sentiment; details how one private in the 107th won the Medal of Honor; and recounts the lengths veterans went to in order to secure pensions and medical benefits for themselves and their loved ones.... Jordan profiles his characters with precision, revealing the deep emotional and physical scars they carried back from the conflict. This meticulous and engrossing history brings the Civil War to vivid life." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review"The personal sacrifice of soldiers in war often gets lost in military histories, and Jordan's moving account of the 107th Ohio is a welcome corrective." -- Library Journal"Movingly, [Jordan] writes in an epilogue of a reunion of the regiment at Gettysburg, when the men ‘gripped walking sticks, not rifled muskets’ and remembered their fallen brothers in arms. A well-conceived, thoughtfully written contribution to Civil War history." -- Kirkus Reviews"A Thousand May Fall is a scholarly and literary achievement, a unique study not only of a Civil War regiment, but perhaps also the deepest probing ever of the experience of soldiers in that awful war. Jordan writes about the men of the 107th Ohio as though he became their neighbors, their confidant, their scribe. We learn the political impulses of these mostly German-born men, especially about slavery. The research is almost unfathomable in its granular depth, and the story a journey into the lived physical and medical reality of war. Above all, Jordan has written a singular study of human emotions under the greatest sustained pressures." -- David W. Blight, Sterling Professor of History, Yale University, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom"Like many other regiments in the 11th Corps of the Army of the Potomac, the 107th Ohio was composed mostly of German-Americans and shared the Corps’ unhappy role as scapegoat for the army’s defeat at Chancellorsville and the first day at Gettysburg. This stigma shaped much of the regiment’s experience, which was otherwise typical of Civil War soldiering. In this splendid regimental history, Brian Matthew Jordan gives color and texture to that hard-knock experience." -- James M. McPherson, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era"Prodigiously researched and elegantly crafted, Brian Matthew Jordan’s A Thousand May Fall chronicles the lives of the men of the 107th Ohio, a regiment roughly seventy percent foreign-born. Unlike many midwestern units that fought for abolition as much as reunion, the ‘ethnically German’ regiment remained loyal to the Democratic Party and believed that nativism, and not unfree labor, presented the greatest danger to American liberties. Jordan’s vivid prose and engaging narrative brings his characters and battlefields to life. A powerful and moving story." -- Douglas R. Egerton, Lincoln Prize–winning author of Thunder at the Gates: The Black Civil War Regiments That Redeemed America

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Book SynopsisFor nearly 20 years, the Army has had limited success in developing an information network -- sensors, software, and radios to give soldiers the exact information they need, when they need it, in any environment. Such a network is expected to improve situational awareness and decision making in combat. Under its network modernisation strategy, the Army is implementing a new agile process intended to leverage industry technology solutions. The Army has taken a number of steps to begin executing its network strategy and agile process, including establishing a baseline network architecture for Army communications. The Army''s agile process involves seven phases and three decision points to allow officials to quickly evaluate emerging networking technologies to determine if they address capability gaps and can be deployed to the field. However, the network strategy is still evolving and the Army has not yet executed one full cycle of the agile process. This book addresses the extent to which the Army''s network strategy and agile process addresses cost, technology maturity, security, and readiness; and the Army''s strategy for facing other risks and challenges. This book also examines the results of the Network Integration Evaluations (NIEs) conducted to date and the extent to which the Army has procured and fielded network solutions, and Army actions to enhance the NIE process.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisIn 2013, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) estimated that about 1.5 million veterans required mental health care, including services for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). MDD is a debilitating mental illness related to reduced quality of life and productivity, and increased risk for suicide. VA also plays a role in suicide prevention. This book begins with a brief overview of the public health framework for suicide prevention, which forms the basis for both the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention and the VHA''s approach to suicide prevention. The book discusses suicide surveillance; suicide risk factors and protective factors; suicide prevention interventions; potential issues for Congress; VA''s data on veterans with MDD, including those prescribed an antidepressant; the extent that veterans with MDD who are prescribed antidepressants receive recommended care and the extent to which VA monitors such care; and the quality of data VA requires VAMCs to collect on veteran suicides.

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Book SynopsisMental health providers are essential to the Department of Defense''s (DOD) delivery of health care to servicemembers and other beneficiaries. DOD''s need for these providers has grown as increasing numbers of servicemembers experience life-threatening combat situations. This led to congressional attentionsuch as the NDAA for Fiscal Year 2010, which included provisions to help DOD increase the number of mental health providers it employs. This book examines how staffing levels changed in response to congressional direction; and how DOD and the military services assess current and future needs for mental health providers. Furthermore, this book reviews the extent to which Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers (VAMC) have implemented the Veterans Health Administration''s (VHA) nurse staffing methodology; and VHA oversees VAMCs'' implementation and ongoing administration of the methodology.

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Book SynopsisTrauma-Informed Care for Women Veterans Experiencing Homelessness was commissioned by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Women''s Bureau (WB) as one of its many efforts to help women veterans who are experiencing homelessness find jobs and successfully reintegrate back to civilian life. This guide was created to address the psychological and mental health needs of women veterans. The guide is also a compilation of best practices aimed at improving effectiveness in engaging female veterans. Written for service providers, the guide offers observational knowledge, concrete guidelines, and resources for modifying practices aimed at improving reintegration outcomes. Furthermore, it defines the term "homeless veteran", discusses attempts to estimate the number of veterans who are homeless, and presents the results of studies regarding the demographic characteristics of homeless veterans as well as those surveyed as part of HUD''s Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress. Finally, the book summarises research regarding the overrepresentation of both male and female veterans, who have been found to be present in greater percentages in the homeless population than their percentages in the general population.

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Book SynopsisSpecial Operations are military operations requiring unique modes of employment, tactical techniques, equipment, and training often conducted in hostile, denied, or politically sensitive environments and characterised by one or more of the following: time sensitive, clandestine, low visibility, conducted with and/or through indigenous forces, requiring regional expertise, and/or a high degree of risk. Special Operations Forces (SOF) are those active and reserve component forces of the services designated by the Secretary of Defense and specifically organised, trained, and equipped to conduct and support special operations. Since 2001, the Department of Defense (DOD) has increased the size and funding of SOF and emphasised SOF''s importance to meet national security needs. SOF deployments have focused on the Middle East and placed significant demand on the force during this period. This book examines trends since FY 2001 in authorised special operations military positions; the extent to which DOD has determined total funding for SOF; and the extent to which DOD has taken steps to manage the pace of SOF deployments, among other issues.

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