GazettNet.com/AP
by Robert Burns
January 14, 2013

WASHINGTON — Suicides in the U.S. military surged to a record 349 last year, far exceeding American combat deaths in Afghanistan, and some private experts are predicting the dark trend will grow worse this year.

The Pentagon has struggled to deal with the suicides, which Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and others have called an epidemic. The problem reflects severe strains on military personnel burdened with more than a decade of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, complicated by anxiety over the prospect of being forced out of a shrinking force.

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Some in Congress are pressing the Pentagon to do more.

(excerpted)
http://www.gazettenet.com/home/3852348-9...uicide-pentagon

In the wake of the Newtown tragedy I've watched how the White House and Senator Feinstein are pushing against the Second Amendment.

In 2011, the Pentagon ordered that privately owned guns be registered at Fort Hood.
http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/wp-cont...-memo-2011-.pdf

There will be more restrictions to come. For the safety of the citizens, only the President has the wisdom to decide who should be armed.

“But let me say, yes,” Nadler added. “One of the definitions of a nation state is that the state has a monopoly on legitimate violence. And the state ought to have a monopoly on legitimate violence.”

“If the premise of your question is that people are going to resist a tyrannical government by shooting machine guns at American troops, that’s insane,” he said.

Since Sandy Hook, President Barack Obama and many Democrats are urging action to address more gun control. Obama has said he will use “whatever power” his office holds to prevent mass shootings in the future. At the prayer vigil for the Sandy Hook shooting on Sunday, Obama mentioned the shootings in Aurora, Co., Oak Creek, Wis., and Tuscon, Ariz., but he did not mention Ft. Hood.

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/nadler-s...timate-violence

Military bases are 'gun free zones.' That's why Ft. Hood happened.

I weep for our military. They are young people who want to serve this country, and they now go into combat with their hands tied.

They are sitting ducks, and they know it.

The problem in the military is p poor leadershp, when you have field commanders chasing their troops for sex, generals emaiing bimbo, haveing party diplomats,
navy commanders running their ships aground, and just general incompetents. Why should the ground troops act any different.