Repeat tours of combat-zone duty put strains on families, Pentagon
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WASHINGTON -- Nearly a third of the 1 million US military personnel called to duty in Afghanistan and Iraq have served two or more extended tours in combat zones, according to figures compiled by the Defense Department.
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Like anyone who goes to war, Sgt. Geoffrey Allison worried about making it home alive.
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The U.S. Army is considering  shortening yearlong combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan amid  concerns the long and perilous duty is making it hard to  attract new soldiers and keep current ones, officials said on  Monday.
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The defense secretary's trip comes at a time when critics have accused him of being insensitive to the welfare of the troops.
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More than five years after their loved ones were killed at the Pentagon during the Sept. 11 attacks, relatives of the victims got a chance Friday to tour the construction site of a memorial park being built in their honor.
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The National Guard and Reserves don't get enough money or equipment and are left out of important planning for national emergencies, an independent panel concluded Thursday, long after the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina exposed serious stresses on the services.
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AUGUSTA, Maine -- Barbara Damon-Day, the mother of a Maine Army National Guard captain who died of unexplained causes while serving in Afghanistan, has been on a mission of her own.
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A coalition airstrike destroyed a mud-brick home after a rocket attack on a U.S. base, killing nine people from four generations of an Afghan family including a 6-month-old, officials and relatives said Monday &#151; one of the latest in a string of civilian deaths that threaten to undermine the government.
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The stateâs National Guard will be routinely screened for traumatic brain injuries after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
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AS Black Watch soldiers continue one of the most difficult missions in the regimentâs long history, the agony persists for the soldiersâ families who are âcounting the daysâ to their loved onesâ withdrawal from Camp Dogwood just 20km from Baghdad
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For many soldiers and family members, the repercussions of wartime deployments are one of the toughest, least discussed byproducts of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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The U.S. National Guard has been strained by multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and faces equipment shortfalls totaling tens of billions of dollars, the Guard's top general said on Wednesday.
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Add long working days in 110 degree heat with the threat of death at the hands of insurgents. Subtract families, friends and spouses the troops are separated from by thousands of miles. Multiply by a yearlong tour. The result, sometimes, is battle fatigue.
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Rising casualties in Iraq and a strong economy at home caused the service to miss its recruiting goals for the second straight month.
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The defense secretary, speaking in Kuwait to troops deploying into Iraq, heard complaints about poor combat equipment, personnel policies and other issues that reflect the strains the war in the Middle East is placing on the U.S. military.
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They once were dubbed "weekend  warriors," but Americans serving in the National Guard and  Reserve are being used extensively in the wars in Iraq and  Afghanistan -- far more so than in the Vietnam War.
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Thousands of U.S. troops with physical injuries and mental health problems are encountering a benefits system that is already overburdened.