Soldier KIA, But Adopted Puppy Comes to America

Afghanistan casualty's return first to be covered since end of 18-year-old ban

(NEWSER) - The press was allowed to cover the return of a fallen US soldier last night for the first time since President Obama lifted an 18-year-old ban, the Washington Post reports. The family of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers, who was killed by a bomb in Afghanistan Saturday, gave permission for the media to be there as required under the new policy. More»

(NEWSER) - The ban on media at Dover Air Force Base when America’s war dead come home ignores the very rights they died fighting for, and it should be lifted, Connie Schultz writes for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Supporters of the Iraq war have long argued that media images of the fallen are nothing more than political statements,” Schultz writes. But "suppressing these images is the more blatant political ploy.” More»

Donations from mortally wounded troops have helped 140

(NEWSER) - Since 2006, organ donations from mortally wounded US troops have saved around 140 European lives, reports USA Today . The families of 36 American servicemembers who were declared brain dead from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan agreed to donate their hearts, kidneys, lungs, livers, and pancreases to patients in Europe. It's the result of military protocol: Wounded troops wind up at an Army medical center in Germany, and those who are brain dead are kept alive on a ventilator to give their families in the US time to fly in for a final goodbye. More»

David Hickman, 23, was last of some 4,500 to die

(NEWSER) - On Nov. 14, just a month before the final US troops left Iraq, a 23-year-old soldier lost his life to an improvised explosive device. David Emanuel Hickman was the last American to be killed in a war that cost some 4,500 Americans their lives, the AP reports. With the US mission over, his family and friends are remembering him as a jokester with the nickname "Zeus" (because, he playfully said, his physique was so impressive the gods would be envious); as an outside linebacker who was the linchpin of a defense so complicated his high school had to scrap it after he graduated because no other teen could figure it out; as someone with a goal of one day joining the Special Forces, and who, in the words of a friend, "didn’t sign up to get his life on track. He wanted to be a physically and mentally elite soldier." More»

Another 1 in 3 disagree: Pew Research Center poll

(NEWSER) - Friday marks the 10th anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan; with an eye on the decade-long effort, the Pew Research Center asks veterans: Were the Afghanistan and Iraq wars worth it? Just 34% of post-Sept. 11 veterans say yes, while another 33% say no (Afghanistan is considered slightly more worthwhile than Iraq, according to the poll). Even so, 96% say they are "proud" of their military service, and 82% say they would advise young people to enlist, Politico reports. More»