“Someone give me a piece of paper under the door, please – something that says that this is what happened. Until then I feel like I’m in a padded cell.” These are the words of Shane Wilhem, a former Navy Seal. His son, Private Kieffer Wilhelm, took his own life on August 4th in Iraq–just eight months into his enlistment with the U.S. Army. Four of Private Wilhelm’s superiors have now been charged with maltreatment and cruelty. Shane Wilhelm compares the response of the U.S. Army, the organization his son offered his life in service of, to what would be expected of a used car salesman– “constantly shifting winds and broken promises at every step”. And now, as journalists dig deeper and deeper into the case, comes perhaps the most disturbing of accusations- that his son, whose interest in the military had been only moderate to begin with, was subjected to endless ridicule and physical torment, including being forced to run in the desert heat with heavy rocks in his pockets. And being the victim of tampering with his uniform and personal belongings by the very same superiors who would then punish him for what he was made to believe were his own shortcomings.

Read the whole story at — www.CAMMMO.org

There have been recent reports that the city of Philadelphia may have to close its public library systems due to lack of public funding. So the presence of more than 300 anti-war protestors at the Franklin Mills Mall’s Army Experience Center seems logical. After all, the Army Experience Center is also tax funded. And it cost tax payers twelve million dollars to build, in addition to an annual operating budget of five million more. This is all in an effort to provide access for military recruiters, selling the lie of “War as Fiction”, to Philadelphia area kids as young as thirteen. With 57 percent of Americans now opposing the war in Afghanistan, how can it be that such belligerent misuse of our tax dollars is allowed, not to mention the belligerent intentions for the future of our young people? Thankfully, the group, “Shut Down the A.E.C.” has been founded to focus directly on eliminating this reprehensible marketing sham, led by IgnitedUSA, a private marketing and advertising agency, working hand-in-hand with the “leaders” of U.S. Army Recruiting Command.

Learn how you can help fight back and shut the doors of the A.E.C. for good at — www.CAMMMO.org

A recent study has found that although combat veterans may show the ability to make quicker decisions and demonstrate quicker reactions in dangerous situations, the flipside is that cognitive brain functions such as thinking, learning and memory actually suffer as a result. Two hundred and sixty eight male and female soldiers, who served between 2003 and 2006, were tested in the study and all the soldiers were given neuropsychological tests measuring response time, attention and memory before and after deployment. According to the authors of the study, “Greater PTSD symptoms were associated with poorer attention in soldiers tested at one-year follow-up but not in recently returned soldiers. Greater combat intensity was associated with enhanced reaction time, irrespective of time since return.” So while many of the skills that the U.S. military touts as advantages of being a soldier may, in fact, be long term disadvantages when it comes to assimilating into civilian culture and leading a normal life. Of course, a recruit will not hear any of this from a Recruiter, nor will a young person find this information on a site such as GoArmy.com.

So we have built a permanent home for this information at — www.CAMMMO.org