Prosecutors Land Another Guilty Plea in Camp Pendleton Intelligence Case; Why No Charges Against Mysterious U.S. Northern Command Analyst? Maj. Mark Lowe sounded relieved. The rangy, 46-year-old Marine helicopter pilot turned intelligence officer had just pleaded guilty to allowing national intelligence to flow unimpeded from Camp Pendleton to civilian law enforcement in Los Angeles County between 2004 and 2006. More...

Veterans Job and Resource Fair at Balboa Park
Veterans from San Diego and beyond lined up 40 minutes early Saturday, resumes in hand, for a chance to speak to employers attending the Veterans Job and Resource Fair at Balboa Park. Organized by the San Diego United Veterans Council and the San Diego chapter of the National Defense Industrial Association, the event is a countywide effort aimed at reducing unemployment among veterans that by some accounts is three times the national average of roughly 10 percent. More...

Larry Hutchins and the Pendleton 8
Little known fact: I coined the term "Pendleton 8" to designate the Kilo Company, 3rd Battaltion, 5th Marine Regiment troops charged with killing Hashim Ibrahim Awad in the town of Hamdaniya on April 26, 2006. More...

Female Vets' Issues Getting Attention
Female veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan number more than 230,000 and their ranks grow daily, yet their health issues have rarely received much attention - until now. More...

How The Military Stopped Worrying About PTSD And Learned to Love The Pills
It's been a dance of convenience between the military and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder over the years. I remember a particularly nifty two-step by Marine Brig. Gen. Joseph Dunford five years ago while assistant commander of the 1st Marine Division. More...

DefenseTracker.com offers information on items of interest to the military and veteran communities
* The Department of Labor Announces New Grant Opportunities
* Making the Future: Meet the San Diego Veteran Coalition
* Information on this summer's Purple Camps, A Number Are In California
* Support Needed for USO Airport Center and Downtown Building
* Regulatory Fairness Hearing for Small Business
* The Marine Corps Needs Your Help…
* Hyperbaric Chamber May Treat TBI…
* Helping Bereaved Military Children…
* Having Trouble Adjusting to Home Life?
* Burger King Campaign to Assist VFW Unmet Needs Program Nets $500,000
* Tricare and VA working Together, USAA's Best Year Ever
* Nearly 3,000 Have Responded to the CalVet Survey To Help Prioritize Services to California's Veterans
* VFW FIRES BACK AT DEFENSE OFFICIAL
* SBA Proposes Subtraction Rule to Contracting Goals
* Web Site Aims to Uncover Fakers in Fatigues
More...

San Diego County Veteran Services: Good People, But Better System Needed
It's a paradox found here in Southern California but probably also from Peoria to Miami as well: The worst-off veterans -- often homeless and mentally ill single men -- can get help while veterans struggling to raise families or pay child-support are more or less on their own. More...

inTransition Program helps
If you are a service member currently receiving mental health treatment and you will be transitioning out of the service, or to a new assignment, the new "in Transition" program is for you. Maintaining your psychological health is important. Often during treatment, service members receive new orders, choose to separate from the military, or must retire as a result of an injury related or unrelated to battle. To find out more, go to: inTransition Now Available for Service Members in Mental Health Treatment

Medication Madness?
If you read just one item on DefenseTracker today, read the proposed testimony of Bart Billings and Donald Farber on mental health drugs and their potential link to suicides in our active duty and veteran populations. If half of what they say true, then the VA and the Defense Department need to take a hard look at the drugs that are being prescribed by the millions. Billings and Farber are scheduled to appear before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, Feb. 24, at 10 a.m. eastern time. Rep. Bob Filner, D-Chula Vista, chairs the committee.

Gays in the military: They're Here, it's Clear and the Day they'll Serve "Openly" is Near; Should The Marine Corps Be Allowed To Opt Out?
Rick's Blog: The days (gays?) of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" are seemingly drawing to a close. Nothing so foreshadows this than recent comments by top civilian and military leadership favoring allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military. More...

Fighting Back: A Marine Colonel Takes the Navy to Court
A little case with huge implications is winding its way through federal court back East, where Gary Lambert, a former Marine Corps reserve colonel, is battling his involuntary retirement. More...

Veterans Need Better Support From the Community to Find Jobs; Better Organization Among Service Providers Would Help Too
David Dickey knows life after the military can be hard, even for an infantry officer with a college education and strong credentials. The former major remembers leaving the Marine Corps in 2007 and wondering what to do next and how to do it. Now times that by 30,000, the number of veterans returning to California each year, and you get an idea of the job creation needed to give these men and women a fighting chance to succeed in the civilian world. More...

Navy's Future, North Korea, Pirates and Cyber Space Robustly Debated at San Diego Conference
Certain things just aren't said in public. Former Navy commanders don't harangue sitting Navy undersecretaries. Coast Guard advisors don't suggest that "hanging a few colonels" might be good for the services. Marine generals don't advocate a greater role in domestic law enforcement at the expense of civil liberties. And Navy admirals and Marine colonels don't discuss turf battles between major U.S. military commands that allow criminals to have their way. More...

In defense of newspapers, sort of …
Rick's Blog: Why newspapers (should) matter and why the government, big business, the military, big pharma, corporations, unions, movie stars, doctors, lawyers, teachers, cigarette makers, big oil companies and Wall Street are glad they don't. More...

Congressional testimony to focus on medicated military
Rick's Blog: Troops, vets and family members were prescribed at least 37.1 million mental health drugs since 2002, more than 6.4 million in 2008 alone. Southern California psychologist is set to testify before Congress later this month that giving psychotropic drugs to troops in combat is 'criminal.' More...

Marine generals questioned in Pendleton intell case
The case of an intelligence breach at Camp Pendleton that began more than three years ago when naval investigators stumbled upon stolen national security documents has taken an intriguing turn. Two of the Marine Corps' most revered generals have now been questioned about an alleged ring of reservists who military prosecutors say operated under their watches and funneled domestic intelligence to law enforcement in Los Angeles County. More...

Aid & Attendance: a benefit worth getting to know
If a veteran qualifies, and many do despite income restrictions, the Aid and Attendance benefit can be worth $23,396 a year - $1,949.66 a month - TAX FREE for life.
The benefit can pay surviving spouses $12,660 -- or $1,055 a month -- for life. More...