• Prosthetics advances made for war hold hope for Boston victims

    Those who lost their limbs in the Boston Marathon bombing are finding support among military veterans who have gone through similar things, NBC's Lester Holt reports.

    Lester Holt writes

    with Kim Cornett and Matthew DeLuca, NBC News

    Boston Marathon spectators who lost limbs in the bombings stand to benefit from years of advances in prosthetic medicine made at Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

    Calvin Todd, 26, is among those who have discovered a new life with the help of doctors at Walter Reed. The army medic was on foot patrol in Afghanistan in October 2012 when he stepped on an explosive.

    “I stepped on a secondary and lost my lower left leg,” Todd said of the injury, which years ago might have immobilized him for good.

    He is one of nearly 1,600 service members to lose limbs in combat since the start of the war in Afghanistan. Six months after his injury, Todd said he is “almost back to new,” and has even started running and playing lacrosse again.

     “I’ve got numerous prosthetics,” Todd said. “I’ve probably got four or five different feet for different activities. I got one for ice skating. I got a running leg. You know, my everyday foot. I got a foot for hiking.”

    The traumatic battlefield injuries sustained by troops on the frontlines have helped change the future for all amputees, doctors at Walter Reed said.

    “We have plenty of examples from our injured service members who have not only survived, you know, extraordinary blast injuries but have thrived from them,” said Col. Paul Pasquina, chair of the center’s department of rehabilitation medicine. “And there’s no reason to think that the victims in Boston won’t do the same.”

    Whether it is bionic hands, knees, ankles, or feet, the advances at Walter Reed have been born of a decade of brutal conflict in which explosions have claimed lives and mangled limbs. While recovery often remains a painful process, the prospect for patients who have lost arms or legs is better than ever.

    “While there have been significant advances in rehabilitation medicine and prosthetic technology over the last decade, that’s not to say recovery from a major limb loss is not extremely challenging, but there’s great hope,” Pasquina said. “And people are now able to achieve things that they weren’t able to achieve in the past.”

    Among those who have overcome seemingly insuperable odds is Travis Mills, one of five quadruple amputees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A service member in the 82nd Airborne Division, Mills was on a walking patrol on April 10, 2012, when an improvised explosive device went off as he stopped for a break.

    “I sat in the wrong spot,” Mills said. “And an IED went off.”

    It was Mills’ third tour in Afghanistan. He had a wife and baby daughter not even a year old at home. Now he can help the 18-month-old girl brush her teeth in the morning.

    “My daughter, that’s my biggest support,” Mills said. “The biggest thing I work for is to go every day to get better so I can be the best dad I can be for her.”

    The cost of prosthetics can run from a few thousand dollars to an estimated tens of thousands and beyond. And while it’s unclear whether insurance will cover these types of prosthetics for the marathon victims, they have more options than ever.

    “I’m very fortunate that the research that has been done has benefited myself due to my injuries,” Mills said. “I know that I would’ve got hurt like I did 10 years ago — I probably wouldn’t have made it off the battlefield.”

    Whether the injured come from battlefields halfway around the world or a sidewalk on Boylston Street, traumatic wounds are often accompanied by deeper scars, said Dr. Harold Wain, chief of Walter Reed’s psychiatry consultation liaison service.

    “They need to have a good perspective of who they are. They can feel good about themselves. They have to accept themselves,” Wain said.

    “We’re constantly learning. There are new advances going on in prosthetics, in treatment, in medications,” Wain said. “The goal is to get them back as whole, as quickly as possible, and to reinforce them for their assets rather than just looking at their liabilities.”

    For Calvin Todd, he only needs to look to his side for inspiration. While the landscape of Afghanistan is a long way from Massachusetts, this war veteran knows what the Boston victims have to overcome and what they have to look forward to.

    “There’s a lot you can do. The sky’s the limit,” Todd said. “You can do anything you want to do, just work for it."

  • Under cover of darkness, Afghan women head to battle

    The Afghan Army is training women to join its special forces. They are playing a key role in night raids, essential in the pursuit of Taliban commanders. NBC's Mandy Clark reports.

    By Mandy Clark, Correspondent, NBC News

    KABUL, AFGHANISTAN -- Severely outgunned, the battle was going badly. It seemed like certain defeat. Then, from out of the crowd stepped a young girl of around 14. She grabbed the pole from the fallen flag-bearer, held it up, and called out to her brothers-in-arms to fight to the death.

    Though she was shot dead, her rallying cry was seen as the turning point of the 1880 Battle of Maiwand; a triumph for the Afghans, and a devastating loss for British forces during the Second Anglo-Afghan War. Her name was Malalai, Afghanistan’s Joan of Arc. 

    “If you go back into history, before we only had one female soldier named Malalai, but now I have a lot of Malalais in my Special Forces,” said Colonel Jalauddin Yaftaly, who heads the elite units. There are more than 1,000 women in the Afghan Army – and about two dozen have made it into Special Forces. 

    In a country where equality is still a huge unresolved issue, on the battlefield women are making huge strides. 

    Col. Yaftaly said he saw a need for women in the Special Forces to help conduct night raids. In 2011, he got permission to recruit women and has built up the female force to roughly 25, but says he needs more. Even their male colleagues say their work is essential. 

    NBC News

    Female members of Afghan special forces in training.

    ‘We do face death threats’
    Night raids are considered the most dangerous: Commandos enter the homes of suspected insurgents under the cover of darkness.

    The military says these missions are key in capturing Taliban commanders, but they are deeply controversial because it is considered culturally offensive for male troops to search female Afghans in their homes. Now, when possible, it’s women searching women. 

    “Our duty is to go inside the houses, search the women and children, make them calm and get them out of danger,” said new 21-year-old recruit Zakia Halakim. 

    Halakim was part of the Afghan police force when she was approached to try out for the Special Forces by Col. Yaftaly, who seeks the top women in the Afghan forces.

    “My family supports me, they never told me not to do it,” she said. “They know it is important for Afghanistan.”  

    On the firing range, Halakim is practicing with two female colleagues. Sporting dark sunglasses, a helmet and scarves wrapped round their faces, their identities are hidden. They have to be. Working alongside men has made them special targets. 

    The women are paid the same as the men when they are on an operation. Right now, their role is limited to night raids. 

    “We do face death threats because our work is outside of our culture but this is an important job,” said Halakim. 

    Hoping for change
    “As far as the culture in this country, no it’s not acceptable in this country at all,” said Mahbouba Seraj, an executive board member at the Afghan Women’s Network. “It goes against every single grain of belief of an Afghan man.” 

    But Seraj believes these women might be able to change the way society thinks. 

    “The most important thing is whether these women are going to do their jobs and really be effective ... are they really going to be saving lives of those women in the villages? If that is the outcome, then the whole view will change,” she said. 

    In a training operation, the female Special Forces sweep the rooms for Afghan women. There could be hidden dangers, such as female suicide bombers. Their male colleagues say they are glad to have them. 

    “We need our sisters as much as we need our brothers to join the army, police and Special Forces -- according to their interest -- and that will help us a lot,” said Agha Sharin Noori, an Afghan Special Forces soldier.

    Brigadier General Mohammadzai Khatool is the only woman general in Afghanistan. During the Soviet occupation, she was a paratrooper with over 600 jumps -- but when the Taliban took over she was forced to leave the military and stay at home.

    In 2002, after the fall of the Taliban, she was promoted to general. She believes women are an essential part of the military.  

    “Men and women are like two wings of the one bird. Working together, both are trying to defend their country and their people,” she said. 

    Seraj agrees. “These women are amongst the bravest in Afghanistan," she said. "I appreciate the first steps that they are taking so much. I wish I could be alive and be around to see them become generals in this country.”

    Related:

    Blast rocks Kabul during visit by Defense Secretary Hagel

    Chuck Hagel in Afghanistan: 'We're still at war'

    Ultimate taboo: Actress takes on rape in Afghanistan

  • The 'Buzkashi Boys' land in Hollywood

    The two Afghan teens who starred in the short critically acclaimed film 'Buzkashi Boys' landed at LAX this week to attend the Oscars. It was a far cry from their home country, where one of the boys – Fawad – sold maps on the streets to help support his family. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports.

    By Thanh Truong, Correspondent, NBC News

    Fawad Mohammadi's tuxedo pants are a bit short.  'First world problems,' right?  Fawad would know.  The 14-year-old street urchin turned actor is from Kabul, Afghanistan.  Now, he's getting fitted for tuxedo for Oscar night.

    "Fawad is like James Bond now, but I am like Al Pacino," said fellow teen Afghan actor Jawanmard Paiz.

    Steven Louie/NBC News

    Fawad Mohammadi tries on the tuxedo he will wear to the Oscars.

    It's been a whirlwind ride.  Fawad and Jawanmard flew more than 7,500 miles and touched down at LAX a few days ago.  Obscure no more, they were instantly surrounded by cameras and microphones.  

    "I am so happy, so excited to be here. This movie is about the strength of Afghans, the Afghans people don't see," said Fawad.

    The kids from Kabul are part of the short film "Buzkashi Boys," which is nominated for best live action short.  The Afghan-produced movie follows two poor kids dreaming of a better life.  A storyline Fawad literally lives.

    Steven Louie/NBC News

    "It is like a dream, the Oscars.  I can say I thought I would go somewhere some day, but not the Oscars, not Hollywood," said Fawad.  

    The boys' tour of Tinseltown brought them to Universal Studios Hollywood.  Their first encounters with King Kong, Jaws and Transformers was a world apart from the reality of Afghanistan. But with his 3-D glasses on, Fawad seemed like any other teenager, laughing and enjoying the spectacle of movie magic. He didn't have to worry about selling enough maps or souvenirs to help support his mother and his other siblings.  

    Steven Louie/NBC News

    Afghan teen actors Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz stand before the Transformers ride at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.

    "I like the weather here, the traffic, too, so many cars," he said.  

    There's very little pretense with Fawad.  He calls it as he sees it.  His charm, along with some brilliant green eyes, caught the attention of American film director Sam French.  The two have built a tight relationship through their work on the film.

    Steven Louie/NBC News

    "I mean the film is about him.  His character, taking one small step into adulthood, and now he's doing that in real life.  So it's just going to be amazing to see him be here and be at the Oscars," said French.

    Fawad Mohammadi, the 14-year-old star of a short Afghan film, has been propelled into the Oscar spotlight. The script parallels his own life. NBC's Thanh Truong reports.

  • 'Game with a purpose': Vietnam vet, teen bring Scouting and help to Afghanistan

    Keith Blackey, a veteran of the Vietnam War, has a lifelong involvement with scouting. He has brought his passion for scouting to Afghanistan as a way to say thank you and make a difference. NBC's Mandy Clark reports.

    Mandy Clark, Correspondent, NBC News writes

    KABUL, Afghanistan - A 68-year-old Vietnam veteran and an idealistic 13-year-old boy might seem unlikely partners. But these two Boy Scouts -- 55 years and 7,000 miles apart -- joined forces to help some of the poorest people in Afghanistan.

    Maryland teenager John Ferry needed a project to become an Eagle Scout, the highest rank attainable in the Scouts. He learned that Army Maj. Kenton Barber who was serving in Afghanistan needed donations of shoes to give to Kabul street kids.

    Ferry emailed Barber to see how he could help. The boy did not want to stop at shoes, and so contacted schools, local businesses, churches and senior centers for help collecting more than a ton of winter clothes. He says he could not believe there were kids his age that still froze to death every winter in Afghanistan.

    Keith Blackey’s path to Afghanistan began 40 years ago as a fighter pilot in Vietnam. In Sept. 1968, he was shot down during an intelligence gathering mission over North Vietnam.

    “My wingman was with me and he could have escaped because we were under terribly heavy fire from surface to air missiles but instead he risked his life, followed me in and saw where our parachutes landed,” he said.

    A3 Warrior pilot Blackey was taken captive by the North Vietnamese. A Marine unit launched a rescue operation within three days, and Blackey’s wingman, Lt. Cmdr. Chip Beck, rescued him. Over the years the two stayed in infrequent touch.

    Courtesy Barbara Ferry

    John Ferry, a 13-year-old Boy Scout from Kensington, Md., helped get about a ton of winter clothes to some of the poorest people in Afghanistan.

    Forty years later, Beck asked a favor.

    “What do you say to someone who has saved your life and he asks you to do something? There is no answer except yes,” Blackey said.

    Beck asked Blackey to help build up the Iraqi scouting program. Six years later, Blackey had built a network of 150,000 Scouts.

    Today Blackey is in Afghanistan hoping for the same success.  After three months in Kabul working with the Afghan charity PARSA, 2,000 Scouts have been signed-up -- so far, all orphans.

    Blackey calls the program “a game with a purpose.”

    It is about having fun but also about learning guiding moral principles, manners, teamwork and leadership – skills orphans badly need, he says.

    Back in Kensington, Md., John Ferry had a ton of clothes but could not find a way to get it to Afghanistan.

    “I was never discouraged, there was times it was slow going but I was not discouraged,” Ferry said.

    He finally got in touch with a U.S. military program that agreed to ship them for free.

    Enter Blackey. Once all the clothes arrived in Kabul, Blackey and his Scouts took over.  They loaded the shipment onto a truck bound for the Northern province of Bamiyan.

    “The Scouts that helped both in Kabul and in Bamiyan, they are all orphans, many of them are living in poverty, and their scout uniform is the nicest thing they have,” Blackey said.

    Despite their own poverty, the Scouts in Bamiyan wanted to help those in the most need, so Blackey handed out the clothes to some of the poorest people – those who live in caves in cliffs where the famed Bamiyan Buddhas once stood.

    “It is a really depressing lifestyle. It is cold, they have no heat,” he said.  “They share a room with their animals.”

    Courtesy Barbara Ferry

    John Ferry stands alongside the truck loaded with clothes bound for Afghanistan in Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George's County, Md.

    The Scouts spent hours stuffing garbage bags with jackets, sweaters, shoes, hats and mitts for each family member living in the caves. The help reached over 100 families, or around 600 people.

    What touched Blackey was, “how gracious they were and their gratitude for these gifts.”

    In Maryland, Ferry waited eagerly for news. The best part for him was seeing the photographs.

    “I recognized some of the clothes,” he said.

    Asked why he took on such a big project, Ferry said, “If you do a good deed for a stranger, maybe they will do another deed for another stranger.  But this was the right thing to do. It is just natural to help out those in need.”

    Blackey’s motivation runs deeper.

    “For two wars I have proven to myself that bombing adults does not solve the problem. For my last two wars instead of wearing a military uniform, I’m wearing the Scout uniform,” he said.

    “I really believe we are going to do more for the future than I was ever able to do for my first two wars.”

  • Obama awards Medal of Honor to Afghan battle hero Clinton Romesha

    Shot in the arm, his base overrun, comrades dead or wounded, Army Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha rallies the survivors to beat back the Taliban and today received the nation's highest military honor.

    Daniel Arkin, Staff Writer, NBC News writes

    President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to celebrated Army veteran Clinton Romesha on Monday afternoon, making the former active duty staff sergeant just the fourth living person to receive the military’s highest honor for service in Iraq or Afghanistan.


    Romesha, 31, fought back tears as Obama presented him with the medal honoring his “conspicuous gallantry” during the Battle of Kamdesh, a day-long firefight at a remote Afghan outpost near the Pakistan border in 2009.

    “These men were outnumbered, outgunned, and almost overrun,” Obama said in his remarks in the White House East Room. 

    Romesha was recognized for leading the charge against hundreds of Taliban fighters during an Oct. 3, 2009, siege on U.S. troops at Combat Outpost Keating, a small compound military officials considered indefensible. 

    Eight American soldiers were killed and 20 were wounded in the surprise attack, making it the deadliest day for the U.S. in the war effort that year.

    Romesha headed up efforts to retake the camp, risking his own life as U.S. troops were besieged by rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, mortars and rifles.

    Romesha, who served twice in Iraq, first took out a machine-gun team and then turned to a second, suffering shrapnel wounds when a grenade struck a generator he was using for cover.

    Former Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha is presented with the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama at the White House on Monday.

    An official citation read at the ceremony described Romesha’s subsequent acts of valor.

    "Undeterred by his injuries, Staff Sergeant Romesha continued to fight and upon the arrival of another soldier to aid him and the assistant gunner, he again rushed through the exposed avenue to assemble additional soldiers," the citation says.

    “With complete disregard for his own safety, (he) continually exposed himself to heavy enemy fire as he moved confidently about the battlefield engaging and destroying multiple enemy targets.”

    Previously reported: "He's always been a good kid." 

    All the while, Romesha devised a strategy to secure key points of the battlefield and directed air support to eliminate a band of thirty heavily armed enemy combatants.

    Slideshow: Medal of Honor recipients

    /

    A look at heroes from a post-9/11 era of war

    Launch slideshow

    Romesha and his team also provided cover so three injured soldiers could make their way to an aid station. They then “pushed forward 100 meters under withering fire to recover the bodies of their fallen comrades,” according to the citation.

    Romesha, a father of three and the son of a Vietnam veteran, reportedly never lost his composure during the chaotic attack, according to CNN journalist Jake Tapper, who chronicled the battle in the 2012 book "The Outpost."

    'Clint is a pretty humble guy'
    During his remarks, Obama recognized the lives of the eight soldiers who died at the Battle of Kamdesh, asking the parents of the fallen seated in the back of the room to stand for applause. 

    But the heart of Obama's speech centered on a visibly emotional Romesha, who appeared to be fighting back tears as he looked ahead at his wife, Tammy, and three young children.

    Colin Romesha, the young son of Medal of Honor recipient Clinton Romesha, finds time to explore the White house while attending a ceremony for his father on Monday.

    "Clint is a pretty humble guy," Obama said. "The thing he looks forward to the most is just being a husband and a father."

    Romesha is slated to be a guest of first lady Michelle Obama at the State of the Union address on Tuesday, CNN reported.

    At a January news conference shortly after Obama called to inform him that he would receive the Medal of Honor, Romesha put the attention squarely on wounded friends and fallen comrades.

    "I've had buddies that have lost eyesight and lost limbs," Romesha said. "I would rather give them all the credit they deserve for sacrificing so much. For me it was nothing, really. I got a little peppered, that was it."

    Romesha, whom Tapper describes in his book as "an intense guy, short and wiry," lives in Minot, N.D., and works at KS Industries, an oil field construction firm.

    A total of ten U.S. service members have been awarded the military's highest honor for actions in Afghanistan and Iraq, including six men who received the honor posthumously. 

    The Medal of Honor is bestowed on members of the U.S. Armed Forces who display what the Army calls "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty."

  • Afghan battle hero Clinton Romesha to receive Medal of Honor

    Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha, 31, helped rescue the injured and retrieve the dead during an ambush by hundreds of fighters in Afghanistan. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News writes

    An Army sergeant who ignored his battle wounds to take out the enemy, rescue the injured and retrieve the dead during an ambush by 300 fighters in Afghanistan will receive the Medal of Honor, the White House announced Friday.


    Staff Sgt. Clinton Romesha, 31, who has since left the military, will be only the fourth living service member awarded the nation's top honor for courage in Iraq or Afghanistan.

    His citation says he is being recognized for "acts of gallantry and intrepity" when fighters attacked Combat Outpost Keating from all sides with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns, mortars and rifles on Oct. 3, 2009, igniting a daylong battle.

    Romesha, a father of three, rousted reinforcements and then engaged in battle with the help of an assistant gunner. After taking out one machine-gun team, he set his sights on a second and suffered shrapnel wounds when a grenade hit a generator he was using for cover.

    "Undeterred by his injuries, Staff Sergeant Romesha continued to fight and upon the arrival of another soldier to aid him and the assistant gunner, he again rushed through the exposed avenue to assemble additional soldiers," the citation says.

    "With complete disregard for his own safety, (he) continually exposed himself to heavy enemy fire as he moved confidently about the battlefield engaging and destroying multiple enemy targets."

    At the same time, Romesha was orchestrating a plan to secure key points of the battlefield — and directing air support to knock out a band of 30 heavily armed fighters who were attacking "with even greater ferocity."

    He and his team also provided cover so that three wounded soldiers could get to an aid station, then "pushed forward 100 meters under withering fire, to recover the bodies of their fallen comrades."

    Eight soldiers were killed in the battle, chronicled in the book "The Outpost," by journalist Jake Tapper, who described Romesha as "an intense guy, short and wiry," the son of a Mormon church leader who had attended seminary before joining the military.

    Romesha, according to the book, never lost his cool — playing "peekaboo" with a sniper so he could get a bead on him, smiling as bullets ricocheted around him.

    'He's always been a good kid'
    Romesha’s father, Gary, said his son called him with news of the medal on Friday.

    “I thought it was great. But I’m more thankful he is able to receive it on his own and it’s not given to us after he is dead,” he said.

    The father of five, a Vietnam veteran, said all three of his sons went into the military.

    “I tried to talk to my children. I told them, just don’t go into the infantry, do something where you get skilled. But they didn’t listen to me. They all went into the infantry,” he said in a phone interview from his home in small-town northern California.

    He said he wasn’t surprised to hear about his son’s battlefield heroics.

    “He’s always been a good kid,” he said. “But I think any of my children would have done the same thing.”

    Romesha enlisted in the Army in 1999 and completed two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He was a section leader with B Troop, 3rd Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division when the outpost came under fire.

    Though the U.S. soldiers were greatly outnumbered, they stopped the Taliban from overrunning the outpost after Afghan troops and guards reportedly fled.

    President Obama, who announced the award during a press conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, will present Romesha with the Medal of Honor at the White House on Feb. 11.

    NBC News' Courtney Kube contributed to this report.

    Related: Some wounded vets shine on 'Alive Day,' others wear black
    Related: One inch: Death in combat hinges on the tiniest margins

     

     

  • The enemy within: Soldier suicides outpaced combat deaths in 2012

    Bill Briggs, NBC News contributor writes

    More soldiers took their own lives than died in combat during 2012, new Department of Defense figures show. The Army's suicide rate has climbed by 9 percent since the military branch launched its suicide-prevention campaign in 2009.


    Through November, 177 active-duty soldiers had committed suicide compared to 165 during all of 2011 and 156 in 2010. In all of 2012, 176 soldiers were killed in action -- all while serving in Operation Enduring Freedom, according to DOD.

    Army suicides have increased by at least 54 percent since 2007 when there were 115 — a number the Washington Post then called "an all-time record." An Army spokesman said Wednesday it is uncertain if 177 marks a new annual high (with December numbers still to come), or if suicides have ever outpaced combat deaths in a single year, because the Army has not always tracked suicides.

    Some Army families who recently lost members to suicide criticize the branch for failing to aggressively shake a culture in which soldiers believe they'll be deemed weak and denied promotion if they seek mental health aid. They also blame Army leaders for focusing more heavily on weeding out  emotionally troubled soldiers to artificially suppress the branch's suicide stats versus embracing and helping members who are exhibiting clear signs of trouble.

    Furthermore, in September, two U.S. lawmakers pressured the Pentagon to immediately use unspent money specifically appropriated to the agency to help slow the suicides within the military. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., and Rep. Leonard Boswell, D-Iowa, also pushed for increased anti-suicide funding for the Department of Defense in 2013.

    “The Pentagon hasn’t spent the money that it has for suicide prevention for this year — and that money wasn’t nearly enough money to reach all the soldiers who need help. Now we are hearing about bureaucratic technicalities at the Pentagon that are preventing them from acting. This is unconscionable,” Rep. McDermott said. “The Pentagon is funded to help soldiers and needs to do much more on the epidemic of suicides."  

    But the Department of Defense contends that anti-suicide programs installed throughout the armed services soon will curb military suicides — and that such initiatives already have helped douse mental-health stigmas.

    "We have seen several programs that we are optimistic are going to start making a dent in this issue," said Jackie Garrick, acting director of the DOD suicide prevention office. "We’ve asked all of the services to use the same messaging, the same talking points. So the Army, included in that, is trying to adapt and promote those same messages because we realize that this is an across-the-board problem."

    The Army could not provide a suicide-prevention officer to comment, but an Army spokeswoman did forward NBC News a link to the “Army Suicide Prevention Program.”

    Within that initiative, soldiers are taught to “Ask, Care, and Escort” any Army buddy who mentions considering suicide, to usher them to behavioral-health provider, chaplain, or a primary-care provider, and to “never leave your friend alone." The U.S. military also installed a prevention “lifeline:” 1-800-273-TALK.

    What's more, soldiers are assured that seeking mental-health counseling will not harm their chances at gaining a security clearance. And on that website, a video shows Sgt. Maj. Raymond F. Chandler III, the Army's top non-commissioned officer, speaking to other NCOs: “Know your soldiers. Know the resources available to them when they are in crisis ... Encourage your soldiers to seek help ... Seeking help is a sign of courage.”

    The anti-suicide strategy was rolled out in April 2009 by Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli.

    In July 2010, the Army released a report that sought to explain its suicide epidemic. Some Army families were irked by one of the key findings: Loosened recruitment and retention standards — due to the furious pace of repeated deployments — had allowed more than 47,000 people to remain in the Army despite histories of substance abuse, misdemeanor crime or “serious misconduct.”

    Chiarelli further frustrated many Army families who had lost members to suicide when, amid the release of that same report, he added: “I think it’s fair to say in some instances it would be a soldier that’s possibly married, couple of kids, lost his job, no health care insurance, possibly a single parent.” Those types of soldiers, he added, are “coming in the Army to start all over again, and we see this high rate of suicide.”

    Two days before Charielli’s comments, 28-year-old Army soldier Brandon Barrett showed up at his parents' home in Tucson, Ariz. The family believed he was on leave following a brutal, year-long deployment in Afghanistan with the 5th Stryker Brigade during which he saw several buddies killed or wounded by bombs and did some killing himself.

    During that visit, Barrett’s family thought his Army experience seemed to be helping him to mature, recalls his brother, Shane Barrett, a detective with the Tucson Police Department.

    In August, Brandon Barrett left his parents’ home and drove — for unknown reasons — to Salt Lake City where he donned his combat fatigues, boots and helmet, grabbed his AR-15 rifle, went to a hotel and told an employee to call the police. As he waited for the officers, Barrett paced the hotel parking lot as if he was on patrol, a hotel video showed. A police officer arrived. Barrett shot him in the leg. The officer returned fire and killed Barrett with a bullet to the head. His family believes Barrett intended to commit “suicide by cop,” his brother acknowledged. 

    Courtesy Barrett family

    Brandon Barrett confided to a chaplain within his unit, the Barrett family learned since his death, revealing that his year of combat in Afghanistan had left him depressed and anxious.

    “He’d been home for nearly a month,” Shane Barrett told NBC News. “We had no contact from anybody in the Army until my brother’s incident. And then, after the fact, it was: ‘Your brother was AWOL (absent without leave).’ Really? We didn’t know that.

    “If a guy goes AWOL, the Army is supposed to notify the family immediately. We never received phone calls, letters. We were blindsided. At the police department where I work, they ran all kinds of record checks on him. But they found absolutely nothing (about an AWOL report).

    “My mother has always believed he was declared AWOL after the fact just so the Army could get him off the rolls and not have his suicide count against the Army,” Shane Barrett said. “To just discard him, like he never existed, is just wrong. And there’s no paper trail, no nothing to back up the AWOL claim.”

    The Barrett family later learned that Brandon had confided to a chaplain within his unit, revealing that his year of combat in Afghanistan had left him depressed and anxious. And possibly mulling suicide.

    “From talking to a couple of other guys in his unit, he didn’t want to come forward (to seek mental-health help) because you’d be red-flagged. It would be your exit out of the Army,” Shane Barrett said. “The guys in the Army are just flat-out afraid to come forward.”

    At the Department of Defense, anti-suicide chief Garrick was asked if the Army is indeed clinging to a culture of “suck it up" and handle your own problems,” as some Army families contend.

    “No, I think all of the services have done a pretty good job of trying to get a message out. The Army ... they’ve done the 'shoulder-to-shoulder,' (approach, and have said) ‘no soldier stands alone.' That’s been some of their messaging, now going back a while,” Garrick said.

    “The Secretary of Defense (Leon Panetta), this past year, issued a statement talking about how our service members are our most valuable resource and that we need to do everything we can to take care of our people. So we’re doing everything we can to prevent suicides in the military, recognizing that it’s a complex and urgent problem.”

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  • Pentagon: SEAL killed in rescue of doctor in Afghanistan was highly decorated

    A U.S .Navy SEAL is being praised as a fallen hero after he died during the rescue of an American doctor kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan. NBC's Atia Abawi reports.

    Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News writes

    Updated at 12:01 p.m. ET: The Pentagon on Monday identified the U.S. Navy SEAL who was killed in the rescue of an American doctor in Afghanistan as a highly-decorated 10-year veteran from Pennsylvania.

    U.S. Navy

    Navy Seal Nicolas D. Checque

    Twenty-eight-year-old Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas D. Checque, of Monroeville, died Sunday of combat-related injuries sustained while supporting operations in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said in a release.

    Checque was assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare command, the statement said. Checque had been awarded the Bronze Star, among many other commendations, the release said.

    The rescue operation was launched when coalition forces reported that Dr. Dilip Joseph was in imminent danger.

    Joseph, who worked with the non-profit Morning Star Development of Colorado Springs, was kidnapped Wednesday along with two Afghan staff members -- one is part of the medical team, the other part of the support team. Joseph has been the non-profit’s medical adviser for three years.


    Morning Star said the team of three had been returning from a visit to one of its rural medical clinics when the kidnappers stopped their vehicle. The three were then taken to a mountainous area about 50 miles from the Pakistan border, Morning Star said.

    Related: Kidnapped American rescued from Taliban, coalition says

    Contact between the hostages, their captors and the non-profit's crisis management team started immediately, according to a statement on Morning Star's website. On Saturday evening, two of the hostages were released. The two men then made their way out of the area and were taken to a police station.

    At least six people were reported killed in the operation to rescue Joseph, the third hostage. It is unclear whether that number includes the American soldier. Morning Star said the two staff members were released earlier.

    In a statement Sunday evening, President Barack Obama said: “Yesterday, our special operators in Afghanistan rescued an American citizen in a mission that was characteristic of the extraordinary courage, skill and patriotism that our troops show every day.”

    Two Taliban leaders were reportedly taken into custody.

    Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued a statement Sunday evening commending the U.S. Special Operations that carried out the raid. He said he was deeply saddened by the SEAL’s death.

    “I also want to extend my condolences to his family, teammates and friends,” Panetta said

    Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

    /

    More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

    Launch slideshow

    Jim Miklaszewski is the chief Pentagon correspondent for NBC News.

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  • EXCLUSIVE: US, NATO behind 'insecurity' in Afghanistan, Karzai says

    Watch Atia Abawi's full, exclusive interview with Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai in which he discusses the "growing perception" that insecurity in the region is caused by the United States and some of its allies who "promoted lawlessness" and "corruption" in Afghanistan.

    Atia Abawi, NBC News writes

    Updated at 9:43 a.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai sharply criticized the United States in an exclusive interview with NBC News on Thursday, blaming American and NATO forces for some of the growing insecurity in his country. 

    "Part of the insecurity is coming to us from the structures that NATO and America created in Afghanistan," Karzai said during a one-on-one interview at the presidential palace. However, he also acknowledged that much of the country's violence was caused by insurgent groups. 

    The Taliban are regaining land and power lost after they were toppled by U.S.-backed forces in 2001. Meanwhile, Karzai has gone from being a favorite of Washington under the presidency of George W. Bush, to a thorn in the White House's side with his criticism of American night raids and mounting civilian casualties at the hands of NATO troops. Many in Washington have also grown weary of Karzai, viewing him as ineffective and presiding over a deeply corrupt government.

    After 10 years of Karzai's rule, has life improved in Afghanistan?

    Karzai, who is serving his second five-year term, also told NBC News that he had sent a letter to President Barack Obama saying that Afghanistan would not sign any new security agreements with the United States until hundreds of prisoners held in U.S. custody were transferred to Afghan authorities.

    His criticism of the United States, Afghanistan's most important ally, has come after the start of complex bilateral talks on a security pact on the role the United States would play after most of its troops are withdrawn by the end of 2014.

    Karzai said the inmates in American detention in Afghanistan were being held in breach of an agreement he and Obama signed in March and must be handed over immediately.   

    Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

    /

    More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

    Launch slideshow

    "We signed the strategic partnership agreement with the expectation and the hope ... the nature of the United States' activities in Afghanistan will change," Karzai said.  But American behavior had not changed, he said, adding that terrorism would not be defeated "by attacking Afghan villages and Afghan homes."

    PhotoBlog: Relentless Afghan conflict leaves traumatized generation

    The dispute between the two countries centers around Bagram Air Base and a nearby detention facility, which have long been seen as a symbol of American impunity and disrespect by many Afghans. 

    "I have written to President Obama that the Afghan people will not allow its government to enter into a security agreement, while the United States continues to violate Afghan sovereignty and Afghan loss," he said.

    Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai had harsh words for the U.S. during an exclusive interview with NBC's Atia Abawi.

    During the interview, Karzai also said that he didn't think al-Qaida "has a presence in Afghanistan."

    He added: "I don’t even know if al-Qaida exists as an organization as it is being spoken about. So all we know is that we have insecurity."

    Newlywed beheaded for her refusal to become a prostitute

    In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the United States led the invasion to topple the Taliban, which was harboring al-Qaida and its then-leader, Osama bin Laden. While weakened, especially after the death of bin Laden at the hands of U.S. special forces in Pakistan in 2011, al-Qaida is still thought to have strong links with the Taliban and other Afghan insurgents.

    Karzai said Afghans were thankful to foreign forces for being "liberated" in 2001, but complained that since then his countrymen had suffered the most in the fight against extremism.

    Panetta: US foresees 'enduring presence' to fight al-Qaida in Afghanistan

    "In the name of the war on terror the Afghan people have paid the greatest price of any.  That has not been recognized," he said.

    While there have been more than 2,000 American military casualties since the invasion of Afghanistan, civilians have borne the brunt of the violence.  In the first six months of 2012 alone, more than 3,000 civilians were killed or injured, according the United Nations.  This number was down 15 percent from a year earlier. Anti-government and coalition insurgents were responsible for 80 percent of the civilian casualties, the U.N. says.

    Karzai also addressed the issue of graft during the interview, saying there was "no doubt that there is corruption in Afghanistan." 

    As Taliban regroup, victims battle for 'free' Afghanistan

    In an exclusive interview with NBC's Atia Abawi, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai says that the U.S. is not sticking to a signed agreement between their two countries.

    "The bigger corruption is the corruption in contracts," he added. "The contracts are not issued by the Afghan government.  The contracts are issued by the international community, mainly by the United States."

    In 2010, the country received $6.4 billion in official development assistance, representing more than 40 percent of its gross domestic product, according to humanitarian news site AlertNet. Two-thirds of the funds aren't channeled through the government because of concerns about corruption and the government's ability to use the money properly, AlertNet added.

    Afghanistan is tied with Somalia and North Korea at the bottom of Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2012. A 2012 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime report estimated that Afghans paid $2.5 billion in bribes over 12 months, which is equivalent to almost a quarter of the country’s GDP.

    Slideshow:

    Kevin Frayer / AP

    In southern Afghanistan, the focus of the U.S. war effort, nearly all the Afghan soldiers are foreigners too. Photographer Kevin Frayer shows these soldiers in a series of portraits.

    Launch slideshow

    The international community had fostered graft to keep the Afghan state weak, Karzai said.

    "I've come to believe (that) ... corruption comes from the United States through contracts and through the corruption in both systems," he said, adding that the "perception of corruption is deliberate to render the Afghan government exploitable, to weaken it," he said. "This is something that I have began to believe in firmly now after the experiences that I've gained in ... working on this issue."

    NBC News' F. Brinley Bruton and Kiko Itasaka contributed to this report.

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  • Revisiting an Afghanistan orphanage

    As the security in Afghanistan crumbles, 'Nightly' returns to an orphanage that Brian Williams first visited in 2009 to find girls with big dreams who are focused on getting into college.

    Tonight NBC Nightly News returned to an orphanage in Kabul, Afghanistan that Brian Williams first visited in 2009.

    Oct. 30: Andeisha Farid is making a difference in a dangerous place, providing a safe haven in Afghanistan. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    The orphans live together under the care of Andeisha Farid who has made it her life's work to help them. Most of the children lost their parents to war, but thanks to Farid's efforts, a happy place arose from tragedy. And despite living in a dangerous war zone, the children were well cared for.  

    Oct. 30: Brian swaps eyewear with one of the girls at the Kabul orphanage.

    Generous viewers wanted to help after they saw the report, and the donations streamed in. 

    "I just ran from home to office to check the emails and most of the emails were one-time donations and sponsorships for the children," Farid told "Nightly" in 2009.  

    Just a few days after the broadcast, viewers had donated more than $50,000. Of the 150 children who were in need of sponsors 130 of them were sponsored by "Nightly" viewers. 

    Nov. 3: The children from a Kabul orphanage who were featured in a recent Nightly News report spent the weekend writing thank-you notes to the viewers who reached out to help. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    Afghan Child Education and Care Organization (AFCECO) is an Afghan non-profit organization based in Kabul, founded by a group of volunteers in 2001. They are working with international partners in the United States, Italy and Australia on projects that benefit Afghan children. The Child Sponsorship Program is one of the successful projects they started in 2004 through a partnership with CharityHelp International (CHI), a U.S.-based organization.

    If you would like to make a donation online or sponsor an Afghan child, please visit:  https://www.charityhelp.org/afceco

    AFCECO
    P.O. Box 5820
    Kabul, Afghanistan
    info@afceco.org

     

  • NBC's Lester Holt answers your questions about Afghanistan

    Joint US-Afghan operations are becoming more common, and so are the risks. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

    See our full coverage on international hot spots crucial to U.S. foreign policy ahead of elections in our At the Brink series here. And tune in today to special coverage on all NBC News platforms from NBC’s team of anchors and correspondents deployed in five countries across the region.

    Lester Holt, NBC News' anchor, is in Afghanistan reporting on the state of the U.S. mission there 11 years after the start of the war. 

    What is the state of the war? Where are the Taliban?  How much longer will U.S. troops be there? What about all the repeat deployments for U.S. soldiers?

    Lester answered reader questions about Afghanistan earlier today.

    Please click on the box below to replay the informative chat. 

     From Lester Holt: For US soldiers, repeat deployments 'definitely take a toll'

     

  • For US soldiers, repeat deployments 'definitely take a toll'

    The Third Infantry Division is used to being deployed. Now, after multiple deployments to Iraq, the 3rd ID has been sent to Afghanistan for the first time. NBC's Lester Holt reports.

    Lester Holt writes

    KABUL – “How many deployments for you? Iraq, Afghanistan or both?”

    See our full coverage on international hot spots crucial to U.S. foreign policy ahead of elections in our At the Brink series here. And tune in today to special coverage on all NBC News platforms from NBC’s team of anchors and correspondents deployed in five countries across the region.

    In an army that’s been waging war in Afghanistan for 11 years, talking about past deployments is what amounts to small talk on the many bases I’ve visited this past week from Kabul to Kandahar, as well as along the Pakistan border in eastern Afghanistan. Soldiers rattle off the dates and locations of their deployments, and point out fellow soldiers with whom they served.

    The Army’s Third Infantry Division moved its headquarters recently from its home base at Fort Stewart, Ga., to Kandahar, Afghanistan. The move marked the division’s first deployment to Afghanistan, but it’s fifth to a war zone in the last 10 years. 

    The Third Infantry Division made history in 2003 when it kicked off the war in Iraq as the so-called “tip of the spear,” driving up from Kuwait straight into Baghdad in what veterans remember as the “Thunder Run.”

    Sgt. First Class Joseph Aiello says he couldn’t imagine back then that he would be in Afghanistan nine years later, still fighting a war.  When the Iraq war began, he was dating his sweetheart Terri. Today they are parents to three small children. Aiello has been on four of the division's five deployments since 2003.

    “It definitely takes a toll on family,” Aiello told me. He added, however, that worrying about home and family when you are in a war zone has its risks.

    “The minute you lose focus that’s when incidents can start to happen,” said Aiello. “You need to maintain focus while you’re here to do a job and that’s what we will get done.”

    The  Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd touches base with NBC reporters across the Mid-East including NBC's Atia Abawi in Kabul, Martin Fletcher in Tel Aviv, Ali Arouzi in Tehran and Ann Curry from the Syrian border.

    Serving on the home front, too
    Back in Georgia, Aiello’s wife, Terri, makes her own contribution to the war, as a physical therapist assistant helping wounded vets. At home she has become accustomed to living the life of a single mom.

    Photo Blog: Exploring home abroad: Afghan-Americans in Kabul

    “A bad day would be having a stressful day [at work] and then going home and the boys are fighting, Alyssa’s cranky and the homework’s not done,” she said about her three children.

    She’s learned to push ahead alone. “Nothing really changes. It’s just that he’s not there to experience everything with us.” 

    Her sacrifices are not lost on her husband.


    “A lot of people say that the soldiers got a hard job and everything like that. But the way I look at it, sir, is I definitely think the wives have the hardest job in the Army,” Aiello told me.

    ‘No different’
    Aiello is one of only a handful of Third Infantry Division soldiers with the unit today who were part of the original march into Baghdad back in 2003. The division’s pace of deployments over the last 10 years is nothing short of remarkable, but no more remarkable than the multiple deployments that have become the norm for thousands of U.S. service members.

    Eleven years of war have left tens of thousands of service families, like the Aiellos, sharing the void of long and too frequent separations.

    Maj. Gen. Robert Abrams, commanding general of the Third Infantry Division and the International Security Assistance Force’s Regional Command-South, underscored the point.

    “There are others making equal sacrifices across the army, so we don’t see ourselves any different,” Abrams said.

    Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

    Anwarullah / Reuters

    More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

    Launch slideshow

    Aiello recalled the long wait for letters from home in those early days following the Iraq invasion. Now he does video chats with his family regularly via Skype, which didn’t exist in 2003.

    On the TODAY Show this weekend, dozens of service members crowded around our broadcast location here at the joint task force headquarters for ISAF in Kabul. Many of them carried signs with pictures of the children whose birthdays, and sweet-16 parties they are missing back home.

    A suicide bomber in Afghanistan kills at least 14 people, including 3 NATO service members, bringing the US death toll on the ground to 2,000 with 20 percent of American combat deaths stemming from insider attacks. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

    The international coalition has set the end of 2014 to withdraw most combat forces from Afghanistan. In the meantime, the United States will continue to ask a lot from so few. The troops and the families will wait for them to return one day and stay home for good.

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