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Mullen plans to ask his staff whether limiting the number of concussions servicemembers can receive while deployed can reduce the number of troops whose resulting injuries prevent them from returning to duty.

Army Maj. Gen. David Blackledge is doing his part to reduce the social stigma attached to seeking mental health treatment for war-related stress.

HEIDELBERG, Germany - New training intended to reduce post-combat psychological distress provides "small but significant" improvements in soldiers' mental health, according to a study.

WASHINGTON - With motor vehicle crashes being a leading cause of deaths among combat veterans during the first years after their return home, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Department of Defense (DOD) are working together to reduce these accidents.

As celebrations and social gatherings begin to spring up during this holiday season, I would like to remind everyone to please be safe and responsible, especially on the road where many lives, not just your own, are at risk. December is National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month, an effort aimed to reduce the incidences of impaired driving accidents and deaths.

Too many veterans' disability claims take more than a year to process, the Veterans Affairs Department's inspector general said. An audit showed that a year ago, 11,000 veterans had claims pending more than a year. It said the agency awarded retroactive payments totaling about $43 million for about a third of them. Of that total, it says about $14 million was unnecessarily delayed. Among the worst cases, the inspector general said, was one involving a veteran who was owed nearly $65,000 for a delayed claim, and another in which a veteran waited more than two years for payment, the inspector general said. The report said the veterans agency had made progress in reducing handling claims, but that delays still created too much of a financial burden for veterans.

Suicide rates in the military are at a 10-year high. In 2008, the Marine Corps had 41 confirmed suicides and approximately 150 suicide attempts, according to the Manpower and Reserve Affairs website. Because of these skyrocketing statistics, every noncommissioned officer in the Marine Corps is receiving additional training in suicide prevention, in the form of a course called "Never Leave a Marine Behind."

FORT DRUM, N.Y. - The Army's vice chief of staff is visiting Fort Drum on Tuesday as part of a fact-finding tour looking for ways to reduce an increasing rate of soldier suicides.

A new Institute of Medicine report, recommends that DoD gradually reduce (and eventually eliminate) the use of tobacco products to restore and maintain the optimal health and readiness of our nation's service members.

From now on, military health workers will shove that needle a little deeper when administering anthrax vaccinations - but that extra pinch should prevent more pain later.A study that appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association in October found that injecting the vaccine into a muscle rather than into the fat just under the skin greatly reduced side effects, including warmth, itching, redness, inflammation or nodules. Itching went from 23 percent of male volunteers to 5 percent when they were injected intramuscularly. Redness and inflammation went from 74 percent of male patients to 29 percent of male patients. Pain, however, went up about one percent.

The Pharmacy Data Transaction Service reviews your new prescriptions against all previous prescriptions filled through the military treatment facility, network and mail order pharmacy options, reducing the likelihood of adverse drug to drug interactions.