9/11 spurs baseball player to join Marine Corps - Many say that everything is bigger in Texas, including dreams. One Texan baseball player's biggest dream since he was a kid, to become a U.S. Marine, has become a reality. Pvt. Ben W. Reed, Platoon 2128, Company F, who trained at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, grew up in Graham, Texas. Reed played for the high school district champions, was awarded 1st Team All District, and was nominated to play on the North Texas High School Baseball Coaches' Association All Star Team. Reed was offered a full-ride scholarship to the Texas Christian University and the University of Texas to play shortstop, he said. 'I turned down the scholarship because I'd rather be a Marine,' said Reed, who lost his aunt and uncle in the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers, and wanted to honor their memory by defending his country against terrorism. 'I feel like I'd somehow be doing them justice, to show that I did something for their pain,' he said.Marines.mil
Supporters plan rallies for WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning - Supporters of the Army private charged with leaking classified material to WikiLeaks are calling for his release at rallies and events scheduled through this weekend in 18 U.S. cities.The so-called "Days of Action" begin Thursday with a rally in Oakland, Calif., featuring Daniel Ellsberg. Ellsberg was the source of the infamous Pentagon Papers, which exposed secrets about the Vietnam War nearly 40 years ago. Pfc. Manning is charged with leaking video of a 2007 U.S. Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed a Reuters news photographer and his driver. Military investigators say he also is a person of interest in the leak of nearly 77,000 Afghan war records WikiLeaks published online in July. Associated Press
Helping veterans find meaningful employment - "Over 1.3 million Americans have served in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, facing the constant dangers of combat. When they leave the armed services, they return to a country mired in an economic slowdown. Finding employment is an essential step for veterans returning to civilian life. The Internet is an important job-finding tool, and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) should enable veterans to easily search for an extensive list of jobs in their area. In recognition of this, I offered 3685, the VET JOBS Act. I am pleased that the House VA Committee approved this bill, and I look forward to its consideration on the House floor. The bill would require the VA to add a drop-down menu titled 'Veterans Employment' on its hompage. The drop-down menu would have links to VetSuccess, USA Jobs, Job Central, and other appropriate employment websites." The Hill Blog by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL)
Intensive care worsening PTSD? - Patients develop post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) after the trauma of a difficult hospital stay, and this is thought to be exacerbated by delusional or fragmentary memories of their time in the intensive care unit. Now researchers writing in BioMed Central's open access journal Critical Care have found that if staff and close relatives make a diary for patients, PTSD rates can be significantly reduced. Professor Richard Griffiths and Christina Jones from the University of Liverpool, UK, worked with an international team of researchers to conduct a randomized controlled trial into the effectiveness of the diaries in 352 patients in 6 different European countries. Griffiths said, "On average 1 in 10 patients who stay more than 48 hours in intensive care will develop PTSD. Hard evidence of what really happened in the hospital, in the form of a diary filled out by the treatment staff, may help to allay these fears". News-Medical.net
Discrete U.S. Military Operations Ineffective - Limited military force'using enough force to resolve a problem while minimizing U.S. military deaths, local civilian casualties, and collateral damage'has increased since the end of the Cold War despite its ineffectiveness, writes Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Fellow Micah Zenko in 'Between Threats and War: U.S. Discrete Military Operations in the Post-Cold War World." The author examines thirty-six such cases, which he terms Discrete Military Operations (DMOs), undertaken by the United States over the past twenty years, and demonstrates that they have achieved just over half of their military objectives and less than 6 percent of their political objectives. 'It is time for the U.S. civilian and military leadership to reevaluate their approach to limited uses of force. While DMOs are an impressive and responsive tactic, they are no substitute for a comprehensive, coordinated, and prioritized strategy'using military and non-military tools,' asserts Zenko. For example, over 150 drone strikes completed since 2004 in Pakistan have failed to deter al-Qaeda from using that safe haven to plan international terrorist attacks. Council on Foreign Relations
