United States Armed Forces Research Articles

Smoking Prevalence among US Veterans

Cigarette smoking is a significant health problem within the US military. Data from the 2003-2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) were used to estimate and compare the prevalence of smoking among US veterans with that of adults who did not serve in the US armed forces. Data from the BRFSS, a state-based random-digit dialed telephone survey supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were used to estimate the prevalence of current smoking among adults (aged >or=18 years) who reported ever serving on active duty in the United States Armed Forces. We compared, by birth cohort, age-adjusted smoking prevalence among veterans with that of adults who did not serve in the military. A total of 224,169 US veterans participated during 2003-2007. The age-adjusted prevalence of smoking during the period was 27.0% (standard error, 0.36) among veterans and 21% (0.12) among non-veterans. For both groups, the prevalence decreased across years from 29% (0.79) in 2003 to 25% (0.82) in 2007 among veterans and from 23% (0.29) in 2003 to 20% (0.26) in 2007 among non-veterans. Among veterans, smoking prevalence was highest among men born between 1975-1984 (36%; 90%CI = 33.7-37.5) and those born between 1985-1989 (37%; 90%CI = 31.7-48.2) with lower prevalences among men born between 1945-1954 (26%; 90%CI = 25.1-26.3), 1955-1964 (33%; 90%CI = 32.3-34.3), and 1965-1974 (27%; 90%CI = 26.0-28.1). The prevalence of smoking was 43% (90%CI = 39.0-47.6) among veterans with self-reported coronary heart disease (CHD), greater than that for non-veterans with CHD (31%; 90%CI = 28.6-33.1). Although the prevalence of smoking has declined among US adults, there are opportunities to further reduce smoking among US veterans, particularly young veterans for whom the prevalence of smoking is similar to that of the US adult population during the late 1960s/early 1970s. Continued work is necessary to target the high smoking prevalence among veterans with CHD, a group for which smoking cessation is especially important.

Troops to Teachers: Future Implications for Teacher Educators

Teacher educators will soon be confronted with the prospect of a relatively large number of former members of the United States Armed Forces seeking to make a transition to the profession of education. With support from the federal government in the form of the Troops-to-Teachers program as well as various state supplements, America's colleges and universities will be charged with ensuring that these aspiring teachers will be trained properly. It will soon be imperative that teacher education professionals recognize and effectively deal with the unique challenges related to this coming reality.

What Do We Owe Them: Veterans, Disability and the Privatization of American Civic Life

ABSTRACT This essay explores the privatization of American civic life and the consequences that privatization may pose for veterans of the United States Armed Forces, particularly those with disabilities, in terms of their reliance on the commitment that the American people have embraced regarding the provision of service- and disability-related benefits. The essay relies on historical, theoretical, and ethnographic perspectives. The conclusions are that, while the commitment made by the American people to veterans is a significant value, it must be considered in light of the distinctions between the ethical prescriptions and moral complexities considering policy issues in a climate of changing national priorities and the embedded nature of social and moral life.

United States Armed Forces in Northern Ireland During World War II

Although it is now more than sixty years since end of World War II, many still live under shadow of that great conflict. For millions in North Ameri - ca, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia, things were, in Yeats's phrase, changed, changed utterly. In context of Irish Studies, war presents a particularly interesting historical problem. Under Eamon de Valera, Eire declared its neu - trality and officially stayed out of war, despite urgings of Great Britain— to which Ireland was still formally linked through Commonwealth, at very least—and of United States, to which Ireland had powerful kinship, sentimental, and economic ties. 1 Northern Ireland tends to be characterized in this discussion as something of a pawn—a territory claimed by Dublin, held by London, governed by Unionists at Stormont, and rather ambiguously offered up by Churchill as a possible reward for southern Ireland should it enter war. 2 However, while these geopolitical issues hung in balance there were practical matters of great military urgency. In circumstances Northern Ireland assumed extraordinary importance, not only to Great Britain but also to United States. Northern Ireland was, in words of John W. Blake, the Atlantic bridgehead for Amer - ican forces in war in Europe.

Laws, leaders, and legends of the modern National Library of Medicine.

The paper is an expanded version of the 2007 Joseph Leiter National Library of Medicine (NLM)/Medical Library Association Lecture presented at MLA '07, the Medical Library Association annual meeting in Philadelphia in May 2007. It presents an historical accounting of four major pieces of legislation, beginning with the NLM Act of 1956 up through the creation of the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The transition from the United States Armed Forces Medical Library to the United States National Library of Medicine in 1956 was a major turning point in NLM's history, scope, and direction. The succeeding landmark legislative achievements--namely, the 1965 Medical Library Assistance Act, the 1968 Joint Resolution forming the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, and the 1988 authorization for the National Center for Biotechnology Information--transformed the library into a major biomedical communications institution and a leader and supporter of an effective national network of libraries of medicine. The leaders of the library and its major advocates--including Dr. Michael DeBakey, Senator Lister Hill, and Senator Claude Pepper-together contributed to the creation of the modern NLM.

Prosecuting Adultery Under the Uniform Code of Military Justice After Lawrence V. Texas

In Lawrence v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a state cannot exact criminal sanctions on adults engaged in consensual sexual conduct without it violating the individual's liberty interest under the Due Process Clause. The Court explicitly excluded any situation where coercion or unequal power led to the sexual conduct or where minors are involved. The implication for laws beyond those prohibiting homosexual sodomy is that any statute or regulation designed to enforce the views of a majority as to what constitutes good moral behavior is constitutionally circumspect. The Lawrence decision questions whether the U.S. military's enforcement of adultery under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) is now constitutionally circumspect. The application of Lawrence was first raised in a sodomy case in United States v. Marcum. In a fact specific opinion, the court declined to apply Lawrence. The Marcum decision has subsequently been read by lower military courts as mandating a case by case evaluation of adultery and sodomy prosecutions under the UCMJ pursuant to Lawrence. This article argues that this should not be the case. Marcum should be read for what it is: a side step of the issue presented in Lawrence. Accordingly, in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas, prosecuting a member of the United States Armed Forces for adultery, in and of itself, is constitutionally circumspect.

Conflicts over Authority: The American Ambassadors to Japan and the United States Armed Forces 1952-1972

Conflicts over Authority: The American Ambassadors to Japan and the United States Armed Forces 1952-1972

The United States Armed Forces Amputee Patient Care Program

United States military amputees are treated at either Walter Reed Army Medical Center (Washington, DC) or Brooke Army Medical Center (Fort Sam Houston, TX). At each center, a multidisciplinary team from more than a dozen specialties works together to address the psychological, social, vocational, and spiritual needs of our soldiers, marines, sailors, and airmen, as well as their physical rehabilitation. Excellent outcomes are being achieved with the current practices of the Armed Forces Amputee Care Program, but a great deal of evidence-based research must be done to determine the optimal time to close the wound, the etiology of heterotopic ossification in blast injury, the factors determining optimal socket design, and the best sequence and timing for introduction of different prosthetic technologies in the rehabilitation process.

Q Fever in Members of the United States Armed Forces Returning from Iraq

Large numbers of armed forces personnel returning from southwest Asia may present with infections that are not endemic to the United States or that occur rarely and are underdiagnosed in the United States. We report 2 cases of acute Q fever in members of the US Military recently returned from Iraq. Because a number of recent reports suggest that the risk of Q fever may be higher than initially thought among US forces deployed to this region, clinicians need to have a high index of clinical suspicion, an understanding of the available diagnostic tests, and knowledge regarding the methodology and capabilities of the laboratory to which specimens are submitted.

Prevalence of Use Study for Amphetamine (AMP), Methamphetamine (MAMP), 3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and 3,4-Methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA) in Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) Specimens

The Roche Abuscreen Onlinetrade mark Amphetamine immunoassay (IA), modified to include sodium periodate, and the Microgenics DRI Ecstasy IA were used to determine the prevalence of amphetamine (AMP), methamphetamine (MAMP), 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDEA) in urine specimens from applicants seeking to join the United States Armed Forces. Over a 4-month period, a total of 85,658 specimens were IA screened using the Department of Defense 500 ng/mL administrative cutoff level for AMP and MDMA. All presumptively positive specimens were confirmed using a solid-phase extraction procedure coupled with simultaneous analysis of AMP, MAMP, MDA, MDMA, and MDEA by fast gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using the same cutoff levels as the IA. The Roche Online Amphetamine IA identified 216 specimens as presumptively positive; of these, 70 specimens confirmed positive for AMP and 87 specimens confirmed positive for AMP and/or MAMP, resulting in a confirmation rate of 73%. The Microgenics DRI Ecstasy IA identified eight specimens as presumptively positive; of these, five specimens confirmed positive for MDMA and/or MDA, resulting in a confirmation rate of 63%. The total use prevalence for AMP, MAMP, MDA, MDMA, and/or MDEA in military entrance processing stations specimens over the testing period was determined to be 0.19%.

Long-term changes of serum chemokine levels in vaccinated military personnel

BackgroundMembers of the United States Armed Forces receive a series of vaccinations during their course of service. To investigate the influence of multiple vaccinations on innate immunity, we measured concentrations of a panel of immunomodulatory and pro-inflammatory cytokines in serum samples from a group of such individuals.ResultsSignificantly increased levels of macrophage inflammatory protein 1α (MIP-1α), MIP-1β and interleukin 8 (IL-8) were detected. Since these cytokines are known to have anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) activity, we tested the effect of serum from these individuals on HIV-1 infectivity and susceptibility of their peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to HIV-1 infection in vitro. Sera from vaccinated military personnel inhibited, and their PBMCs were partially resistant to, infection by HIV-1 strains tropic to CCR5 (R5), but not to CXCR4 (X4), chemokine receptor.ConclusionThese findings demonstrate that increased anti-HIV chemokines can be detected in vaccine recipients up to 68 weeks following immunization.

Mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of a minor salivary gland in the upper lip: Case report

Mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of the salivary gland is a rare entity that has only recently been described. This lesion was included in the 1991 World Health Organization Classification as “papillary cystadenocarcinoma,” and that same year the United States Armed Forces Institute of Pathology classified it as “cystadenocarcinoma with or without a papillary component.” Only a small proportion of salivary gland tumors are adenocarcinomas. Most mucinous cystadenocarcinomas affect the major salivary glands, particularly the parotid. These are low-grade malignancies, and most that occur in the minor salivary glands show very little aggressive behavior. These tumors are histologically similar to adenocarcinomas of the gastrointestinal tract. It is often difficult to differentiate them from other neoplasms. The differential diagnosis includes mucoepidermoid carcinoma, acinic cell carcinoma, salivary duct carcinoma, nasal adenocarcinoma, and metastatic carcinoma. This report describes the case of an 80-year-old man who presented with a painless swelling in his right upper lip that had been present for 1 month. Fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the lesion revealed inflammatory cells without an epithelial component. The treatment was wide excision, and there was no recurrence during 6 months of follow-up. The pathological diagnosis was low-grade mucinous cystadenocarcinoma of a minor salivary gland.

Camp all-American, Hanoi Jane, and the high-and-tight: gender, folklore, and changing military culture

Camp All-American, Hanoi Jane, and the High-and-Tight: Gender, Folklore, and Changing Military Culture. By Carol Burke. (Boston: Beacon Press, 2004. Pp. xix + 264, preface, photograph, illustrations, bibliography, acknowledgments, notes, index. $26.00 cloth, $19.00 paper) In Camp Ail-American, Hanoi Jane, and the High-and-Tight: Gender, Folklore, and Changing Military Culture, author Carol Burke, who taught as a civilian at the United States Naval Academy for seven years and has written elsewhere about institutional folklore (Burke 1992), offers a folklorist's perspective on attitudes that military men have toward women, showing in various ways why it has been so difficult to integrate women into the United States Armed Forces. In addition to recounting old arguments about genetic differences between males and females, she notes that many military men place civilians and women in the same folk category, explaining in part the strong esoteric belief among military personnel that women inhibit the efforts of men during wartime (53-57). But, as Burke points out, beliefs like these are cultural and therefore learned, and they can be unlearned. Cultural practices are either adaptive to the environment or maladaptive, and it is maladaptive - given today's blurred geopolitical wartime boundaries, loss of clear markers by which to identify an enemy, steep declines in recruits, and advances in military technology (some of which obviate all need for reliance on a soldier's upper-body strength) - to exclude women from combat roles in the military today. Burke also calls for systemic institutional change in the military, reminding us that it is the United States government and its elected civilians and their constituents that control the military, not the other way around (23-24) . Burke weaves into her study a sampling of military oral traditions and customs both contemporary and historical-stories of the marvelous and the uncanny in battle, of angelic soldiers saving others on the batdefront, of spat-upon returning Vietnam vets, of sufferers from posttraumatic stress syndrome (the military virtually ignoring the debriefing of soldiers about to resume civilian life), of Jane Fonda's betrayal of American prisoners in Vietnam, of the determination of nurses imprisoned by the Japanese during World War II to survive their captivity by creating folk objects from scarce materials; oral traditions associated with Jody calls and other marching chants; folk songs deriding military leaders and making light of the horrors of war; and jokes. Burke's overview of military folklore leaves no doubt about male preoccupation with dominance and subordination in the military and about what constitutes masculine response in the face of danger. Anything that challenges the masculine military worldview (especially if such intrusion is seen as feminine) invites ridicule, debasement, and outright rejection. In military folklore women are sex objects, as in Jody calls, or are scorned and ridiculed, as in the Suzy Rotten-Crotch joke cycle; they are distractions that can render a soldier and his weapon impotent, as seen in marching chants in which the soldier prefers an M-16 to a beauty queen. …

Commentary on “Post-War Syndromes: Illustrating the Impact of the Social Psyche on Notions of Risk, Responsibility, Reason, and Remedy,” by Charles C. Engel, Jr.

Commentary on “Post-War Syndromes: Illustrating the Impact of the Social Psyche on Notions of Risk, Responsibility, Reason, and Remedy,” by Charles C. Engel, Jr.Sheila Hafter GraySheila Hafter Gray1. Teaching Psychoanalyst, Baltimore-Washington Institute for Psychoanalysis, Laurel, MD; Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry, Uniformed Services, University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD.Search for more papers by this authorPublished Online:March 2011https://doi.org/10.1521/jaap.32.2.335.35282PDFPDF PLUS ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations AboutReferencesDepartment of the Army (1994a), Field Manual (FM) 8–51, Combat Stress Control in a Theatre of Operations—Tactics, Techniques, Procedures; Headquarters Department of the Army, Washington, DC, 29 September 1994. 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Test of Nyborg's General Trait Covariance (GTC) model for hormonally guided development by means of structural equation modeling

Nyborg's General Trait Covariance (GTC) model for hormonally guided development investigates the influence of gonadal hormones and fluid intelligence on body build, achievement, and socioeconomic variables. According to the model, testosterone should be negatively related to height, fat/muscle ratio, intelligence, income, and education. It is conceived that this influence should be determined to a great extent by mutual relationships between these variables. The model was tested by means of structural equation modeling (SEM) in a sample of 4375 males who had served in the United States Armed Forces. The results largely confirm Nyborg's androtype model but in addition reflect the relationships between the variables included in a quantitative causal manner. It could be shown that testosterone has a negative influence on crystallized intelligence and that this effect is mainly mediated by the negative influence of testosterone on education. An additional multiple group analysis testing for structural invariance across age groups revealed that the mediating role of education is more pronounced in old veterans. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Resistance in Japanese Prison Camps during World War II

AbstractWhen instructing men who might become prisoners of war, Article 3 of the United States Armed Forces Code of Conduct, issued in 1955, states in part: “If I am captured I will continue to resist by all means available. I will make every effort to escape and aid others to escape.” No such code existed in World War II.

United States (U.S.) Congress: Public Law 107-243 (Joint Resolution to Authorize the Use of United States Armed Forces Against Iraq)

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Socioeconomic issues of United States military neurosurgery

Although the practice of neurosurgery in the United States (US) Armed Forces is in many ways similar to the civilian practice of neurosurgery, there are many differences as well. The unique challenges, duties, and opportunities US military neurosurgeons are given, both in peacetime and in times of conflict, are discussed, as are pathways for entering into service. The advantages of military service for neurosurgeons include sponsored training, decreased direct exposure to tort actions, little involvement with third-party payers, significant opportunities for travel, and military specific experiences. The most appealing aspect of military practice is serving fellow members of the US Armed Forces. Disadvantages include the extreme gap between the military and civilian pay scales, lack of support personnel, and in some areas low surgery-related case volume. The greatest concern faced by the military neurosurgical community is the failure to retain experienced neurosurgeons after their obligated service time has been completed, for which several possible solutions are described. It is hoped that future changes will make the practice of military neurosurgery attractive enough so that it will be seen as a career in itself and not an obligation to endure before starting practice in the "real world."

Change Over Time: Integrating the American Army

Southern white oppression and new opportunities resulting from global war and urban and industrial growth in the twentieth century led to a massive movement of African Americans out ofthe South and into the rest ofthe United States. This migration changed forever the nation and African Ameri cans. A poignant dimension of this story is the integration ofthe United States Armed forces during World War II. The following lesson plan is based on primary sources available online at the Truman Document Library . Although the online li brary hosts a wide range of scanned documents from the 33rd president's life, the exercise below draws on a selected few from the period, 1938 to 1944Each relates to the inclusion of black soldiers in the U.S. military and reflects the changing attitudes of and toward African Americans.

Stateside Soldier: Life in the Women's Army Corps, 1944-1945

I DON'T KNOW ANYBODY who has ever done such a daring thing as I have done, twenty-two-year-old Aileen Kilgore of Brookwood, Alabama, wrote in her diary in January 1944, after enlisting in the Women's Army Corps (WAC) during World War II. From basic training in Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, to her discharge in late 1945, Kilgore served as one of more than 150,000 American women who joined the Women's Army Corps - the first group of women other than nurses to serve in the ranks of the United States Army. Aileen Kilgore Henderson has now collected and edited diary entries and personal letters that recount in an engaging narrative style her twenty-three months of experiences in the army. Recording the excitement and anxiety of enlisting, along with the camaraderie, challenges, and monotony of military life and labor, Henderson had a keen eye for the newness of her undertakings. She worked as one of only six female airplane mechanics at Ellington Air Force Base and as a photo lab technician, and she provides a detailed document of daily life in the service. Additionally, Henderson reveals the public scrutiny and criticism WAC members faced as they assumed nontraditional roles. A fascinating record of history in the making, Henderson's diary and letters offer a window into the lives of groundbreaking women and their lasting impact on the United States Armed Forces.