Bill Carr is assigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, serving as the Deputy Under Secretary in charge of Military Personnel Policy since August 2002. Here, he answers a caller's question on the military draft which he opposes reinstating.

If you want to end American military adventurism, you reinstate the draft. Keep the all volunteer army and our Empire will keep going and going until it bankrupts us.

Germany, by the way, still has a military draft and is currently debating whether to end it. We, on the other hand, should be having a debate over one and over the military in general but for whatever reason we'd much rather cut Social Security and Medicare. If Social Security is a milk cow with 310 million teats, then the US military is one bloated sacred bull goring the fiscal condition of the country.

The cost of the American Empire is not just measured in financial terms and in opportunity cost, our Empire exacts a punishing human toll.

Psychiatrists estimate that one in three US soldiers who served in Iraq or Afghanistan may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The film, The War Within, addresses the US army's Human Resources dilemma and features the stories of those who have had to come to terms with the physical and psychological wounds suffered from fighting a war that is increasingly unpopular here at home and around the world.

Here are a few facts and figures:

The military suicide rate for 2009 was the highest level among soldiers since the Pentagon began tracking it three decades ago. Suicides among active US soldiers in 2009 rose for the fifth year in a row.

In 2009, more US soldiers killed themselves than were killed in either Iraq or Afghanistan. At least 334 members of the military services have committed suicide in 2009, compared with 297 killed in Afghanistan and 144 who died in Iraq.

In 2008, the Army suicide rate surpassed that for civilians for the first time since the Vietnam War and it is continuing to rise. Roughly 20.2 of every 100,000 soldiers killed themselves. The civilian rate for 2006, the most recent figure available, was 19.2 when adjusted to match the demographics.

In 2009, the Army had 211 of the 334 suicides, while the Navy had 47, the Air Force had 34 and the Marine Corps (active duty only) had 42.

A Pentagon study revealed that 10% of the returning soldiers met the military's criteria for PTSD.

The New England Journal of Medicine studied four combat units and found that 17% of Iraq war veterans and 11% of Afghanistan war veterans suffered from PTSD. In addition, 25% of returning soldiers were drinking excessively.

A study by the RAND Corporation revealed that 20% of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan will suffer from PTSD or severe depression; sadly, only about 50% of these veterans will get the treatment they need.

An older study by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) discovered that only 20% of Afghanistan and Iraq war veterans who test positive for combat related stress disorders are actually referred by the Pentagon for mental health treatment.

On average, 18 US Veterans commit suicide each day. Veterans account for one in five suicides in the United States even though veterans account for only 8 percent of the US population.

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By Lindsay Beyerstein, The Media Consortium MediaWire blogger. 

The $825 billion economic stimulus package is finally taking shape as House committees finalize their contributions to the bill. The good news is that healthcare spending will be a major part of the stimulus: $87 billion has been set aside to help states pay for Medicaid alone.

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Many, in fact, all Americans were betrayed by the last eight years.

Obama seems in touch with this sentiment. Certainly, his inaugural address did nothing to dissuade from this conclusion.

Yet, the sense of betrayal among veterans is striking under Bush, who actually criminalized in some cases veterans' seeking benefits.

See Morrison & Foerster Files Suit Against CIA, DoD, and U.S. Army on Behalf of Troops Exposed to Testing of Chemical and Biological Weapons at Edgewood Arsenal and Other Top Secret Sites for another example, though, of the bipartisan enterprise of screwing over our veterans.

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The Purple Heart is awarded for sustaining an injury in battle.  It was the first medal ever authorized by General George Washington and it remains a mark of respect among veterans.  I believe it is held in the highest of regard among civilians, as well.

The unfortunate fact for far too many veterans is that the wound they take in battle doesn't get noticed.  They get no Purple Heart because the wound can't be seen.  When they come home, they are expected to act as if they've never been wounded.  The gaping, gasping hole in their soul goes unnoticed.  Many times, they deny the wound themselves.

For a long time, the existence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was officially denied.  Thankfully, those days are gone.  But the efforts at preventing, identifying, and treating PTSD remain painfully inadequate.  We have to change that.  Now.

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