Five servicemen will trade their combat uniforms for tight-fitting spandex bobsled suits as they prepare for the Sochi Olympics.
The Army announced that Capt. Chris Fogt, Sgt. Justin Olsen, Sgt. Nick Cunningham, Sgt. Dallas Robinson and 1st Lt. Michael Kohn will compete across two of the three US teams in the event in February. All five Olympians come from the World Class Athlete Program, a national training program that supports soldier-athletes through training regimens at facilities across the country.
Cunningham will drive Team USA's second sled in the four-man event as well as one in the two-man event. Conventional wisdom says being either a soldier or an elite athlete is enough a time-consuming and stressful commitment, but Cunningham knows the key to success at the highest level is to remember the people that got you there.
"Representing my country is my main goal in life and I will put most of my effort into that," Cunningham writes on his personal blog at TeamUSA.org. "However, I will not shut out my friends and family to achieve that goal. They have all supported me and will be by my side on this journey."
This isn't the first time Cunningham has had Olympic dreams for life after service. He also tried out to be a sprinter for the 2008 summer games, according to The Associated Press.
While they may have been playing a game rather than serving in combat, a few former NFL players who have already made the switch to retirement shared their stories with veterans adapting to life after service.
Former members of the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and Indianapolis Colts were on hand to talk veterans through the transition to new phases of their post-service lives at the Jan. 19 "Real Warriors, Real Battles, Real Strength Game Day," event in Fort Carson, Colo., according to the Colorado Springs Gazette. Much like servicemen and women, football players prepare their entire lives for a single purpose and when that career is taken away from them by age or injury, the change can be difficult.
"Depression knocked me out, insecurities knocked me out," said Chris Sanders, a former Titans wide receiver who played seven years in the league. "But when I reached out and got help – that's when I got back in the game."
The issues facing soldiers coming home or leaving active duty are as serious as they are numerous. One of the most prevalent is post-traumatic stress disorder, which Military.com says affects nearly 30 percent of all soldiers who have experienced combat situations.
Mental health services are usually included among benefits for veterans struggling with leaving their military career behind.
A recently launched online program provides aid to military spouses who are in need of career and education guidance. Called My Individual Career Plan, or MyICP, the new interactive resource lets military spouses build digital career roadmaps based on their own goals and objectives.
The web resource debuted Jan. 10 on the Military OneSource website with the help of the Department of Defense's Spouse Education and Career Opportunities program. It's available to all active-duty Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps spouses, as well as National Guard and Reserve spouses. Surviving spouses are also eligible to use the program. However, all military spouses have to first register at the SECO website before accessing MyICP.
"SECO provides expert career and education guidance to military spouses worldwide, supporting them in four career lifecycle stages: career exploration, education, training and licensing, employment readiness, and career connections," said SECO program analyst Lee McMahon in a statement.
McMahon added that MyICP allows military spouses access to the 200 companies and organizations that compose SECO's Military Spouse Employment Partnership, so that military spouses can more easily find job openings.
A recent study from the RAND Corporation found that while a majority of military spouses are employed, they are more likely to be seeking work and earn less on average than civilian spouses.
A group of Delaware veterans are restoring a combat-zone helicopter as a way to honor the fallen soldiers of the Vietnam War.
WBOC reported that the Delaware Vietnam Veterans of America recently acquired a UH-1 helicopter, also known as "Huey," which was used during the Vietnam War to rescue injured soldiers from the war zone. It took years for the group to find a Huey, because although hundreds were initially produced, only a small amount of remain.
"Once I seen it, it brought back a lot of memories," Joe Startt Jr., a Vietnam veteran who was saved by one of these helicopters during the war, told the news source. "My last ride was horizontal and I want to sit vertical up in this thing one time."
The helicopter is currently being refurbished so it can be placed as a Vietnam memorial at the Kent County Veterans Memorial Park in the upcoming months. According to Delaware Vietnam Veterans of America website, the group is hoping to hold a dedication ceremony for the memorial March 30, which is Vietnam Veterans Day.
About 2.7 million Americans served in the military during the Vietnam War, according to the National Vietnam Veterans Foundation.
A Department of Veterans Affairs website recently experienced a data breach that affected thousands of veterans and their families. Now, the House Veterans Affairs Committee is looking into the incident, adding it to the recent investigations it has been conducting on the veterans agency.
According to Federal News Radio, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki sent a letter to the committee last week, requesting answers to 18 questions regarding the security breach. Shinseki expects the responses by Jan. 31.
"The agency's information systems, including the eBenefits portal, continue to be afflicted by persistent information security weaknesses," Shinseki wrote. "Recognizing the importance of securing Veterans' personal information, and minimalizing the risk of serious consequences such as identity theft or other fraudulent activity, the Committee expects VA to take all steps necessary to strengthen the security and privacy of the eBenefits portal."
Shinseki is expecting the VA to outline how it identified the number of users affected by the security breach, how these users were notified and if veterans are requesting evidence of their personal information being stolen.
The eBenefits Web portal, which is also partially operated by the Department of Defense, provides information on various military benefits, including health care and education assistance. According to the VA, approximately 10,000 users logged into the portal the day the cyber breach occurred.
Field artillery has traditionally been a male-dominated discipline in the military. However, one female officer is blazing a trail for other women to follow.
Army 2nd Lt. Taylor Cardosi recently became the first women to serve as a fire direction officer in a M777A1 howitzer cannon unit, according to the Department of Defense. She is currently a member of the 1st Battalion, 37th Artillery Regiment at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Fort Lewis, Wash.
Cardosi entered active-duty service Dec. 27, 2012, around the same time that the Defense Department opened up a large number of new positions for women, including field artillery.
"I like to think that I want this as a career," Cardosi said. "I'm patient enough to wait and, when that time arrives, prove that I should have been there all along. For now, that's the plan — make it a career and become a battalion commander, a brigade commander, a general."
According to data compiled by the departments of Defense and Veteran Affairs, more than 214,000 women currently serve in the military. The Army has nearly 77,000 female soldiers on active-duty status, which comprises 13 percent of the branch. Overall, more than 1.8 female military veterans reside in the U.S.
The Department of Defense has discontinued the use of the advanced brain imaging machines sent to Afghanistan in 2011 for treating servicemembers in combat zones. Military Times reported that the MRI machines were recalled from the front lines in February 2013, and recently dismantled.
The MRI machines were sent to combat zones to provide doctors with the ability to respond more quickly to the traumatic brain injuries that affect troops due to roadside bombs and other blasts, the news source noted. However, a senior medical officer for the U.S. Central Command said it was unclear whether the machines were helping doctors treat these injuries in combat.
"The device itself doesn't necessarily help you treat that patient, it just helps you understand the nature of the injury in a little bit more meaningful way," Air Force Col. Mark Mavity, a Central Command surgeon, told the news outlet. "[It] was deemed not worth the cost and investment to keep those devices in theater."
Nearly 290,000 servicemembers have sustained a traumatic brain injury in either training or combat since 2000, according to the Defense Department. Mild brain injuries are the most common for military personnel.
A veterans group in Illinois is currently working to provide shelter and other services to homeless and at-risk veterans.
According to the Northwest Herald, the McHenry County Veterans Stand Down is joining forces with other organizations, including the Veterans Assistance Commission and the McHenry County Housing Authority, to provide housing assistance to county veterans currently living without permanent shelter. About 23 percent of the area's homeless population were veterans in 2013, compared to 46 percent in 2012. However, the news source reported that the sharp decrease could have been due to an area housing program that did not respond to the survey.
Stand Down recently held an event with the goal of attracting homeless and at-risk veterans to its available resources. According to the news outlet, Stand Down and the other participating organizations were pleased with the large turnout and hoped it was a sign that veterans will begin using more assistance.
"A lot of these organizations, people might not necessarily know about," Robin Doeden, executive director of the McHenry County Community Foundation, told the news source.
Veterans homelessness has become a top priority for both local and federal government agencies. A recent report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development found that there were more than 57,000 veterans living without permanent shelter in the U.S. in January 2013.
At a recent White House Council on Girls and Women event, President Barack Obama addressed the growing concern over the high rate of sexual assault in the military and reaffirmed his administration's commitment to tackling the issue.
"When a member of our military is assaulted by the very people he or she trusted and serves with, or when they leave the military, voluntarily or involuntarily, because they were raped, that's a profound injustice that no one who volunteers to defend America should ever have to endure," Obama said.
The president added that the he and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel are currently working toward strengthening the military's prevention and response to sexual abuse crimes.
Obama's recent statements build upon the continuing work of the Department of Defense, which began in August 2013 when Hagel introduced seven new anti-sexual assault initiatives. According to the DOD, these directives called for the increase of legal services for sexual assault victims and more follow-up reports on sexual abuse cases. Hagel provided an update on the military's progress last December, stating that these measures have already begun strengthening victim advocacy and safety, as well as DOD oversight and investigations.
A software glitch on a Department of Veterans Affairs website resulted in a data breach last week, revealing the personal information of thousands of veterans.
According to The Washington Post, the glitch occurred on eBenefits, a joint VA and Department of Defense Web portal. The site lets veterans and their dependents access private information, such as medical and bank records along with educational benefits. Because of the recent glitch, visitors to the site were able to view this information once they logged into the system.
VA officials told the news source that an estimated 5,300 users were affected by the security breach.
Reports of the software glitch first surfaced Jan. 15, according to The American Legion blog. The website was taken down for a few days before returning last Sunday.
"[The] VA took immediate action upon discovering the software defect and shut the e-Benefits system down in order to limit any problems," the VA said. "We offer our sincere apologies to any servicemember, veteran or family member impacted by the software defect and the downtime."
The department's Data Breach Core Team is currently investigating the incident. Once the DBCT determines the approximate number of users the breach affected, the VA may provide credit monitoring services to the victims.