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(CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night that he will end the war in Afghanistan by the end of next year, and that after that he will keep tens of thousands of American troops in Afghanistan to fight a war in Afghanistan. “And by the end of next year, our war in Afghanistan will be over,” said Obama. For the period after 2014, he said, “We are negotiating an agreement with the Afghan government that focuses on two missions: training and equipping Afghan forces so that the country does not again...

Just a day after receiving the Medal of Honor by the president of the United States, former Army staff sergeant Clinton Romesha has declined an invite by the first lady to be her guest at the State of the Union address Tuesday night. He said that after some soul searching he decided he’d rather spend the evening with friends from his former unit, his wife Tammy — with whom he celebrates a wedding anniversary Tuesday — and their families, CNN reports.

WASHINGTON (CBSDC) - The results of a new study indicate that suicide rates among veterans in the United States are increasing. An estimated 22 military veterans take their lives every day in America, according to the study helmed by Robert Bossarte, an epidemiologist and researcher who works with the Department of Veterans Affairs. While the percentage of all suicides reported as Veterans has decreased, the number of suicides has increased,” the conclusion of the study stated. Specific trends were observed during the course of the study regarding the age and gender of veterans who most frequently committed suicide. “A majority...

Just months after returning from a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan, U.S. Army National Guard veteran Tyler Barge was embroiled in another fight defending the American flag. This time, it involves the management of his Salem, Va. apartment complex. A small American flag, displayed in a cup of dirt on his patio wall, is a violation of the building’s code, he was told. Barge received a notice informing him he must remove the flag, along with a few other items – a broom and table, for instance – deemed inappropriate.

As Tammy Duckworth sees it, her path to Congress began when she awoke in the fall of 2004 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. She was missing both of her legs and faced the prospect of losing her right arm. Months of agonizing therapy lay ahead. As the highest-ranking double amputee in the ward, Maj. Duckworth became the go-to person for soldiers complaining of substandard care and bureaucratic ambivalence. snip Veterans' groups say the influx of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is welcome because it comes at a time when the overall number of veterans in Congress is on a steep...

CALLAWAY — Libby Busbee pounded on the window of her son’s maroon Dodge Charger as he sat in the driveway of their home earlier this year. Locked inside his car, U.S. Army Spc. William Busbee sat with a .45-caliber gun pointed to the side of his head. “Look at me,” his mother cried out as she tried to get her son’s attention. “Look at me.” He wouldn’t look. He stared out the front windshield, distant, Busbee said, relating the story from an apartment complex in Callaway. “I kept yelling, ‘Don’t you do this. Don’t do it.’ He wouldn’t turn his...

Sergeant Danny Nightingale, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, was sentenced to 18 months in a military jail last week. A working 9mm Glock handgun, given to him after he trained a counterterrorism force in 2007, was found in his home by police last year. He said he forgot he had the weapon and failed to declare it. His wife Sally described the father of two as a 'hero who has been betrayed', while the sentence came in for more criticism after it was handed down in the days leading up to Remembrance Sunday. Sgt Nightingale's lawyer said his client...

TOPEKA, KS (KCTV) - A Kansas board that denied a licensed doctor of osteopathic medicine a license was primarily concerned about the man's political views. The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts is a 15-member panel appointed by the governor and decides the fate of doctors in Kansas. Terrence Lee Lakin rose to the ranks of lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army. He served on the front lines in Afghanistan and the war zone in Bosnia as well as a medical mission to Honduras. He saved lives around the world and received a Bronze Star for his service. "I like...

The New York Giants on Tuesday will be showered with confetti and greeted by throngs as they are feted with the city’s most storied honor: a parade through its Canyon of Heroes. But all the fanfare — the parade this week is the fourth since 2000 to honor a sports team — has touched off anger and unease among some returned Iraq veterans, who are eagerly awaiting their own recognition. “Everybody recognizes that the Giants deserve a parade,” said Paul Rieckhoff, founder and executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. But, he added, “If a football team gets...

EXCLUSIVE: Captain Katherine Jenerette Gives A Woman’s View From AfghanistanAbout Katherine: Katherine Jenerette is Captain in the US Army Reserve and a paratrooper from North Myrtle Beach, SC. She is serving with the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division ‘Task Force Arctic Wolves’ in the Horn of Panjwa’i in one of the most volatile districts in Kandahar Province (and Afghanistan). She is a former U.S. Congressional Field Representative for South Carolina’s First District and a North Myrtle Beach Planning Commissioner and was a Candidate for US Congress in 2010. Katherine was recently name as one of THE 45...

Melanie Morgan's web site supporting combat veterans running for a congressional seat.

Usually a handful of ex-soldiers seeks political office every election cycle. But more than 20 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are running this fall for Congress alone. Almost all are riding a wave of public anger at incumbents over a profligate government and dishonest Wall Street -- and a general feeling that the Democratic remedy has proven as bad as, or worse than, the GOP disease.

Joseph Reyes Baptized Daughter Without Informing Estranged Wife A veteran of the war in Afghanistan could find out today if he'll get jail time for taking his daughter to church in defiance of a Chicago family court order obtained by his estranged wife. The two are in a bitter divorce battle, and the question of what faith their child should be raised in is pushing the boundaries of child custody arrangements. Reyes' decision to baptize his daughter without his wife's permission resulted in what some are calling an extraordinary court order: The Hon. Edward R. Jordan in the Circuit Court...

Nobody wants to buy them a beer. Even near military bases, female veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan aren't often offered a drink on the house as a welcome home. More than 230,000 American women have fought in those recent wars and at least 120 have died doing so, yet the public still doesn't completely understand their contributions on the modern battlefield. For some, it's a lonely transition as they struggle to find their place.

AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ VETERANS NOT READY TO SUPPORT OBAMA STRATEGY IN AFGHANISTANUsually supportive of administration, largest progressive veterans group in America has serious questions about future of War in Afghanistan following Obama speech WASHINGTON -- Veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are not ready to support the strategy for the war in Afghanistan, laid out by President Obama this evening, saying they had serious reservations and questions about it.  The veterans of VoteVets.org, the largest progressive group of veterans in America, said that the strategy left unanswered too many questions regarding strain on the Armed Forces, and...

CHICAGO (CBS) ― They serve on the front lines only to come home to the unemployment line. National statistics show the jobless rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is skyrocketing. CBS 2's Dana Kozlov reports with what's being done to change them. A few hundred veterans showed up to a "Recruit Military" job fair at The University of Illinois Chicago Thursday. Those just returning from war were especially appreciative. "It's difficult. I'm married. I have two kids," said 23-year-old Marine Reservist Corporal James Dillingham. Afghanistan veteran Javier Sandoval, 22, says it's difficult to go from having a steady job to...

"On June 30th Major Chris Galloway took his own life. He had come back from Afghanistan in April, and things just weren’t the same we’re told." "Why’d we lose him? Who the hell knows. There is no rational reason for doing such a thing, so using reason to figure it out is both impossible and ineffectual. It accomplishes nothing. In the end, he’s still gone. For the sake of his wife, his kids, and for ourselves it’s better to remember him for who he was. Given that he was so much to so many, there’s a lot to think about....

The comment thread about the loss of one of Flopping Aces' own, Maj. Chris Galloway, has all of us doing some head scratching as to what we can do as individuals. This sense of helplessness, *after* the loss, is simply not acceptable. Wordsmith did provide some extra insight in his remembrance of Chris with a YouTube link, but I felt that Major General Mark Graham - Commander, Division West and Fort Carson, Colo - and his suicide prevention program needs to be broadened with a grassroots movement. Below is the ACE card given to military members.. ASK, CARE and ESCORT....

Life and the internet are strange strange things. I've been trading emails and posts etc with Chris for years now. It wasn't at all uncommon for his duties, deployments, and family to make those virtual conversations sporadic from time to time. Well, Chris won't be returning emails anymore. He passed away suddenly on June 30, 2009. Last Fall he and his wife Shannon had a baby girl, Lilly. Chris was so happy. We teased him about how awful it is to step on Barbie Doll high heels in the middle of the night, and he bragged about how his...

While serving in Afghanistan with the U.S. Army Reserve, Leon Batie Jr. dodged roadside bombs and scrambled to safety when rockets pierced the night sky. When he returned to Dallas in early 2006, another battle loomed. As Batie was returning from Afghanistan, he learned he was being stripped of the two Subway restaurants he bought before mobilizing. The stores were sold to Subway insiders, with one transaction yielding a Subway executive a $100,000 profit, according to a lawsuit Batie filed last year in state court in Dallas County. One issue in the case is set for trial this week.