The lowering of educational standards for Navy recruits adds fuel to a national effort that would provide state-level educators with Defense Department data that could help address the recruiting crisis.
Schools and communities lack the data from the armed forces to demonstrate to their students that upon graduation they are well prepared to succeed in the military.
Government bureaucracies don’t move fast until they get hit in the face by overwhelming evidence and public pressure from those actively suffering or injured by a health condition or occupational threat. Today, we are witnessing something similar play out with the Departments of Defense, Veteran’s Affairs and Health and Human Services in relation to brain injuries, a signature injury the last two decades of persistent conflict.
The mental health of America’s youth is in crisis, and it stands to reason that military-connected youth are facing the same crisis, if not worse due to the added stressors faced by military families.
A far-reaching study by Navy researchers has found that exposure to munitions blast waves from combat and training may be causing brain injuries the aggregation of which is resulting serious and often deadly ailments such as depression, PTSD and suicide.
The U.S. military takes into consideration the quality of local public schools as it decides whether to maintain military commands and offices where they are or move them elsewhere. This provides communities with another big reason to focus on improving schools, because the economic impact of any single military installation can be enormous.
The Arctic is the next frontier for U.S. military operations, where the physical environment poses a major threat to achieving strategic dominance, managing assets and ensuring freedom of the seas.
Members of Congress should focus on all forms of brain injuries sustained by service members, but especially on what are known as mild traumatic brains injuries.
The U.S. is lagging dangerously behind peer and near-peer competitors in the education of uniformed and civilian Department of Defense (DoD) workforce and our ability to identify and promote talent.
The ask is that on Nov. 13, every adult American should contact a veteran or service member and ask how they are doing, let them know they are cherished and, if necessary, steer them toward assistance when they might otherwise slip through the cracks.
