The Impact of War

Marines based in Okinawa, Japan, fire an M136 AT-4 rocket launcher as part of a weapons training exercise on the Kaneohe Bay Range Training Facility, in 2014.

Army 'Leans In' To Protect A Shooter's Brain From Blast Injury

5:42pm May 17, 2018

by Jon Hamilton

The Army tells NPR of plans to monitor blast exposure across a military career, to enforce limits on firing certain weapons, and to even look into whether special helmets could help stop blast waves.

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U.S. Marines fire the Carl Gustav rocket system during live-fire training last October. With each firing, the shooter's brain is exposed to pulses of high pressure air emanating from the explosion that travel faster than the speed of sound.

Report To Army Finds Blast From Some Weapons May Put Shooter's Brain At Risk

12:15pm April 30, 2018

by Jon Hamilton

Service members who fire certain weapons can get concussion-like symptoms from the blasts, an Army-commissioned report finds. It urges taking measures to cut the risk of lasting brain damage.

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'Bring The War Home' Shows 'Lone Wolf' Terrorists Are Really Part Of A Pack

7:42am April 22, 2018

by Lulu Garcia-Navarro

Kathleen Belew's new book explores the impact of the Vietnam War on America's white power movement; Belew says that movement was behind a lot of domestic terror attacks attributed to "lone wolves."

Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army soldiers celebrate around a statue of Kawa, a mythology figure in Kurdish culture as they prepare to destroy it in city center of Afrin, northwestern Syria, early Sunday.

Turkish Forces Seize Syrian City of Afrin

11:58am March 18, 2018

by Shannon Van Sant

The Turkish military has taken control of Afrin, a city in northwestern Syria. An advocacy group says nearly 200,000 people have been displaced by the fighting.

Trump Executive Order Aims To Expand Veteran Mental Health Care

4:58am January 10, 2018

by Quil Lawrence

The Trump administration is moving to enroll all new veterans in Department of Veterans Affairs mental health services. This greatly expands the numbers of veterans enrolled with the VA.

The Tax Bill And The Military

12:11pm December 11, 2017

President Trump has promised to increase military spending. Rachel Martin talks to retired Army Col. Peter Mansoor about whether that spending is possible under the Republican tax plan.

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Pieces of cloth that Mansour Omari and other inmates at a notorious Syrian prison used to document the names of the "disappeared" held with them. They made ink out of blood from their bleeding gums and rust from the prison bars.

World News

Names Written In Blood And Rust: Documenting Syria's Disappeared

2:57pm December 07, 2017

by Martha Ann Overland

Political prisoner Mansour Omari hid the names of fellow inmates, penned in makeshift ink, in the lining of his shirt. Now free, he tries to keep a promise to ensure the world does not forget them.271

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National

The Number Of Homeless Veterans Rises

5:06am December 06, 2017

by Quil Lawrence

HUD has released its latest homeless count and the number of homeless veterans is slightly up from last year. This is despite a years-long effort to bring that number to zero.

National

What POW/MIA Means To A New Generation Of Veterans

5:08am November 23, 2017

by Zachariah Hughes

The POW/MIA movement that began during the Vietnam War changed the way the U.S. sees its responsibility for missing service members. A new generation of veterans sees the flag differently than before.

Arms Merchants Go To The Pentagon

8:11am November 19, 2017

by David Welna

Former executives from some of the country's biggest military equipment companies are occupying top slots at the Pentagon, their biggest customer. But there's bipartisan pushback.

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