Tagged: Military and Defense

An Army combat engineer has become the 12th Washington based soldier to die in Afghanistan this year. The pace of deaths has picked up in recent weeks as the summer fighting season begins.

The Army says Sgt. 1st Class Barett McNabb was killed by an improvised explosive device. He was on his fourth deployment, but his first to Afghanistan.

McNabb is just the latest soldier from Washington’s Joint Base Lewis-McChord to die in Afghanistan. May was the deadliest month so far this year with six soldier deaths.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta revealed the Departments mental health care review during a Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee hearing Wednesday.

Washington Senator Patty Murray chairs the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Murray grilled Panetta about the Department’s efforts to improve mental health care for both active duty service members and veterans.

One active duty service member a day commits suicide according to the Pentagon.

The cemetery at Joint Base Lewis-McChord will be the site of a Memorial Day ceremony to honor fallen service members. A University of Washington graduate is the latest Washington-based soldier to die in Afghanistan.

Army records indicate 25 year old Lt. Travis Morgado is the sixth soldier from the Army post near Tacoma killed in action so far this year.

Just before he deployed in March, Lt. Morgado spoke with NPR’s Martin Kaste outside Joint Base Lewis-McChord. He was reacting to news that a fellow soldier, Sgt. Robert Bales, had been accused of murdering 17 Afghan civilians.

Five years ago the Defense Department and VA made an effort to streamline the process. It hasn’t worked.

The evaluations are a critical step for injured service members who are preparing to leave the military. Washington Senator Patty Murray is Chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Murray grilled VA and DOD leaders about the wait times during a committee hearing Wednesday.

Murray: “That’s unacceptable for someone just waiting to figure out what they’re going to do with the rest of their lives.”

The GAO’s report found that last year active duty troops waited nearly 400 days for evaluations, longer for National Guard and Reserve.Further Murray says she’s concerned about the evaluation process itself known as IDES which can have the effect of seeming to pit commanders against soldiers.

The Idaho parents of the only U.S. soldier in Taliban captivity say they want the Obama administration to negotiate a prisoner swap to bring their son home. Bob and Jani Bergdahl broke their long silence in new interviews, hoping to build public pressure for a deal.

Pilot negligence - not a mechanical failure- led to a deadly midair crash last December of two Army helicopters from Joint Base Lewis-McChord . But poor communication and moonlight might also have been factors in the nighttime accident. Correspondent Austin Jenkins has details on an internal investigation released Monday.

For the first time, the U.S. Army is confirming it was a midair collision that brought down two helicopters last December at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The results of an internal investigation into the crash that killed four pilots was released Monday. It blames pilot error, not a mechanical failure.