Battling the Storm Within Blog : March 2019

Here’s what you need to know about the biggest update to UCMJ in decades

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify changes to Article 120, the section in the UCMJ that addresses sexual assault.

In 2016, Congress passed a new Military Justice Act, calling for a review and reorganization of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, the set of rules and regulations that dictate criminal offenses for service members and how they are adjudicated.

Among the changes are new definitions for adultery and intimate partner violence, and a specific law against sexual relationships between instructors and trainees.

Mefloquine: The Military's Suicide Pill

In late July, 2013, the FDA issued a powerful "black box" safety warning for a drug which has been taken by hundreds of thousands of troops to prevent malaria. The drug is called mefloquine, and it was previously sold in the U.S. by F. Hoffman-La Roche under the trade name Lariam. Since being developed by the U.S. military over four decades ago, mefloquine has been widely used by troops on deployments in Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan.

With women in combat roles, a federal court rules male-only draft unconstitutional

A female soldier operates a machine gun on a vehicle during clashes in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in 2003. Now that combat roles are available to women, a federal judge in Texas has ruled, the male-only draft is unconstitutional.

A federal judge in Texas has declared that an all-male military draft is unconstitutional, ruling that "the time has passed" for a debate on whether women belong in the military.

The decision deals the biggest legal blow to the Selective Service System since the Supreme Court upheld the draft registration process in 1981. In Rostker v. Goldberg, the court ruled that a male-only draft was "fully justified" because women were ineligible for combat roles.

'Mom, you're too much': Veteran women become the new face of PTSD

These women served their country proudly, but they didn't leave their service without wounds.

Author: Allison Kropff

Published: 5:48 PM EST February 13, 2019

Updated: 9:33 AM EST February 15, 2019

When you picture the face of a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, do you think of a woman? You probably should. Women are the fastest growing group of veterans to ask for help after leaving the service. They are mothers, sisters and daughters fighting a new battle every day. Nitza Rivera is a retired master sergeant who served 23 years in the Army.

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Service dogs could be a solution to the veteran suicide crisis

The number of military service members and veterans in the United States is declining, but their suicide rates are increasing. New data show that suicides among U.S. Special Operations Command tripled in 2018 while suicides among active duty Marine Corps and the Navy reached a 10-year high. These figures are just the latest indication of the growing suicide crisis among our men and women in uniform.

Sweat Lodge at Army Base help with PTSD treatment for veterans

What once was a ritual held in secrecy is now a growing trend among both active duty and veteran warriors seeking its legendary cleansing powers. In a remote section of Turkey Creek, the air is filled with songs and smoke at the Lakota Sioux I traditional sweat lodge made of willow branches and donated quilts.

The sweat lodge has been there since 1995.

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