Small daily newspaper's conservative editorial page tells local 'dim bulbs' to stop stereotyping Iraqis

Some Americans have developed an intolerance or even fear of people of Middle Eastern decent, often thinking anyone from a place like Iraq is somehow linked to terrorism. The Daily News of Bowling Green, Ky., a university town of 55,000 about 110 miles south of Louisville, published an editorial last week calling for an end to intolerance towards those Iraqis who have supported the U.S., and who are making an honest living in our country.

The editorial refers specifically to families who were granted special immigration visas for helping the U.S., and ended up in places like Bowling Green. The editorial said these patriots "came here seeking a better life, but sadly an ignorant few individuals are attacking them with stares and racial slurs." The editorial refers to a pair of men who both lost family while trying to help the U.S. but have been subjected to "people telling them to go back to their own country and catcalls of 'terrorist'."

"Those who throw racial slurs and unpleasant stares at them and their families should be ashamed of themselves," opines the locally owned paper, which has a conservative point of view and a circulation of about 25,000. "America doesn’t turn its back on its friends. Sadly, there are a few dim bulbs who haven’t gotten that message. These men have earned the right to be here and deserve the gratitude and utmost respect of all our citizens." (Read more)

One rural community has high rate of soldiers dealing with effects of war

A disproportionate amount of veterans come from rural America, and in trying to "understand the impact of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars on the American fabric," McClatchy Newspapers reviewed Department of Veterans Affairs documents to find a small town to chronicle. Reporter Chris Adams chose London, Ky., where almost 200 service members are now veterans collecting disability payments for war injuries. The area has one of the highest rates of disability collected for post traumatic stress disorder, one of the most prevalent ailments associ:ted with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. (Photo by Chris Adams: Zola Hamlin held a photo of her grandson, Staff Sgt. Christopher Hamlin, at her home just outside London. He was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad in May 2007.)

Adams visited London and talked with veterans, preachers, shopkeepers and family members to report about the impact both wars have had on this community. "War and the consequences of war run deep here. At one church, five members are overseas now. At the veterans' halls, the talk by former Iraq and Afghanistan war vets is just beginning. American flags fly up and down Main Street. Patriotism is at the surface," Adams writes.

Three Londoners were killed in action, a higher number than most small towns, Adams reports. Corbin-native and Marine Matt Jackson was killed and his father, Timothy, told Adams many people don't know how the decade-long wars affect them. "I can tell you that until my son got killed, I didn't have a clue how it affects us," he said.

Many London-area service members are enlisted in the Kentucky National Guard. The town's unit is currently on its second tour of duty and their return date is uncertain. This leaves some, like Sarah Doggette, who's husband is in the unit, to raise family alone. Their 4-year-old son thinks his dad is at the London Armory - not 6,500 miles away in Iraq. Doggette coordinates the family readiness group for deployed soldiers from London and told Adams communication between families and soldiers is constant and has improved since the unit's first deployment, something she said helps family members cope. The unit's 124 members are now helping in cleanup and shutdown, including sweeping roads for improvised explosive devices.

London-area soldiers returning from war are also dealing with its heavy toll. Since 2003, 175 soldiers in the London area are on Veteran Affairs' disability rolls, with a total of 917 ailments ranging from mild to severe. Psychologist Cynthia Dunn has helped veterans deal with PTSD, which can last the rest of their lives. She told Adams only a tenth of the veterans she meets weekly are of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but that's likely to change as more soldiers return with the end of both wars and are pushed to attend by family members - "the first line of intervention." (Read more)

4-H gets a foothold in Iraq with U.S. government aid

4-H, a youth organization with a strong presence in many rural communities, is providing opportunities for youth in 81 countries, most recently Iraq, reports Agri-Pulse, a Washington-based newsletter.

4-H began in Iraq in 2009 when Mary Kerstetter of the Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service traveled to Anbar province as an farm adviser, Agri-Pulse reports. She taught youth how to tend sheep, Iraq's most common form of livestock, and created two 4-H sheep clubs with the help of $50,000 in State Department grants and leaders like government official Salam Singer (in USDA photo with Kerstetter).

Now Iraq has 42 4-H clubs with more than 1,100 members aged 12 to 14, Agri-Pulse reports. To visit the national Iraqi 4-H website, click here. To obtain a free, four-issue trial subscription to Agri-Pulse, a subscription-only newsletter, click here.

Death of South Carolina soldier illustrates Iraq war's high toll on rural America

In the wake of President Obama's announcement this week of the end of combat operations in Iraq, a rural South Carolina area's story from the war is an important reminder to the disproportionate toll military service has on rural areas. Rodricka Youmans of Allendale, S.C., joined the Marine Corps in 2003 after failing to find a job in his hometown and was killed less than a year later in Iraq, Johnny Edwards of The Augusta Chronicle reports. "What happened to Youmans is a stark example of the heavy toll paid by Allendale County and other small communities in the Iraq war," Edwards writes. "Their price in flag-draped coffins, according to community leaders and demographic research, has been disproportionately high, attributable to the economic ills in much of rural America."

Ten of the 18 soldiers killed in Iraq from the greater Augusta area came from towns of 7,000 people or fewer, Edwards reports. The newspaper's analysis of Pentagon and Census Bureau data showed "Allendale County and neighboring Barnwell County, both rife with poverty and unemployment, suffered South Carolina's highest and second-highest rates of Iraq war deaths per capita," Edwards writes, noting "nationally, among the top 10 for losses per capita were such sparsely populated states as Vermont -- which had the highest rate at 0.35 deaths per 10,000 people -- Montana, Wyoming, Alaska, North Dakota and South Dakota."

"He [Youmans] joined because he was looking for a job," Rodricka's father, Johnnie Youmans, told Edwards. "If he could have found a job, he probably wouldn't have gone in." Using data from the Defense Department, the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Census Bureau, a 2006-07 study from the University of New Hampshire's Carsey Institute "found that the death rate for outlying counties was 48 percent higher than in metropolitan or suburban counties," Edwards writes. "Though only 19 percent of the nation's adult population lives in rural areas, those areas suffered 26 percent of the casualties." (Read more)

Contract workers, 'veterans in all but name,' suffer same injuries and come mainly from rural areas

Injuries from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are altering the lives of contract workers as well as soldiers, and the contract workers seem to come disproprtionately from rural areas, as soldiers do. "Contract workers from the U.S. have been mostly men, primarily middle-aged, many of them military veterans drawn by money, patriotism or both, according to interviews and public records," T. Christian Miller of ProPublica writes for The Los Angeles Times. "They are police officers, truck drivers, firefighters, mechanics and craftsmen, mostly from rural corners of America, especially the South."

But contract workers don't qualify for the same medical care as injured military personnel. Troops are guaranteed treatment at Veterans Administration facilities, but contract workers only qualify for worker's compensation insurance paid by the federal government under the Defense Base Act, Miller reports. "These guys are like the Vietnam vets of this generation," Lee Frederiksen, a psychologist who worked for Mission Critical Psychological Services, a Chicago-based firm that provides counseling for war zone workers, tells Miller. "The normal support that you would get if you were injured in the line of duty as a police officer or if you were injured in the military . . . just doesn't exist." That puts more pressure on health services in rural areas.

Nearly 1,600 civilian workers, whom Miller calls "military veterans in all but name," have died in Iraq and Afghanistan with thousands more injured. Reggie Lane, a contract worker from Central Point, Ore., was injured in Iraq when insurgents attacked his fuel truck with rocket-propelled grenades. His mental state has gradually deteriorated since he returned home, leaving him unable to speak, and American International Group Inc. estimates his care will cost as much as $8.9 million for the rest of his life, for which the federal government will reimburse his employer.

Herbert J. Lanese, former chief executive of DynCorp International, one of the largest employers of civilian workers in Iraq and Afghanistan, tells Miller: "These are people who have given their lives in the service of our country. They are the unappreciated patriots of our country at this point in time." (Read more)

Data on dates show decline of Iraqi agriculture

"In Iraq, one of the places where agriculture was developed more than 7,000 years ago, there are increasing doubts about whether it makes much sense to grow ... much of anything," Timothy Williams reports for The New York Times. "Wars, sanctions, poor management, international competition and disinvestment" have left the country's agriculture "a shadow of its former self," and the same is true for manufacturing. (Times photo by Joseph Sywenkyj: A worker shakes sand from green dates near Baghdad)

"The agricultural industry has been particularly damaged during the past few years, a situation perhaps nowhere more apparent than in the country’s once bountiful date orchards," Williams writes. "Date palms have been left to die for lack of water, and fungi and pests have ruined thousands of tons of fruit because the country has only three crop-dusting airplanes and three qualified pilots. American military approval is still needed to fly."

The decline of dates has had big ramifications. The lack of work for young men fed insurgencies, and "As growers have abandoned farms, the orchards that had once formed a lush green ring around Baghdad have shrunk, causing more frequent sandstorms in the capital this summer and higher rates of asthma and other respiratory illnesses," Williams reports. It's a sad tale that reminds us of the fundamental nature of farming in civilization, proven in the same valley of the Tigris and Euphrates so long ago. And the story also has some data on dates that we bet you didn't know.

Lack of sleep is new enemy of returning soldiers

As soldiers come home from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, the physical injuries they face are sometimes less challemnging than the mental exhaustion caused by lack of sleep. Veterans' health is a rural concern because troops come disproportionately from rural areas.

About 36 percent of Army troops who have been back for a year complain of feeling tired during the day, and another 34 percent say they difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, Jia-Rui Chong writes for the Los Angeles Times. Researchers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center found that sleeping/waking problems were the most commonly cited health issues returning soldiers were facing.

Soldiers returning to the U.S. must confront the challenges of redefining a routine and fitting back into civilian life. Mitch Hood, 25, battles nightmares and 18-hour days since he's returned, supporting himself on energy drinks and caffeine pills. Bill Rider, a Vietnam veteran, is all too familiar with the signs of exhaustion, having suffered from the same trauma and fatigue after returning from duty 40 years ago. He helped found a combat support group in 2001 and insists that, "Sleep deprivation ... is an ongoing discussion," particularly for victims of trauma and veterans, he told Chong.

Many veterans seek help from painkillers and sleeping pills, but the risk of prescribing medication for soldiers suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is high. "Up to 60 percent struggle daily with substance abuse," Dr. Tasha Souter, medical director of the Trauma Recovery Program at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, told Chong. Click here to read more.

Research helps explain vets' mental-health issues

Military training intended to help soldiers to react quickly in combat makes them more prone to various emotional and psychological issues upon return to civilian life, according to research at the University of Arkansas. Rural areas should take note because military enlistment is disproportionately rural.

"What we learned talking to soldiers and mental health professionals affirms the findings of the Department of Defense Health Board Task Force on Mental Health, particularly regarding the stigma attached to psychological problems and the shortcomings in available treatment," says sociologist and lead researcher Lori Holyfield, an assistant professor in UA's Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice. Her research team analyzed oral histories of Iraq War veterans and mental-health professionals who were active in the field or work in Veterans Administration facilities and soldier, as well as professional accounts from military blogs, documentary films and news coverage.

The analysis used what sociologists have learned about emotions and "edgework," which is what they call voluntary, risk-taking behavior through negotiating between danger and safety in life-and-death situations. Edgework consist of four stages: preparation involving confidence building, performance marked by suppression of emotions, completion allowing emotional release, and maintenance that redefines emotions. Soldiers interviewed for the Veterans Oral History Project consistently reported feelings of hyper-arousal. Despite the suppression of many emotions, the constant threat can produce extended states of rage or anger.

During the completion stage, anger often resurfaces, and when soldiers return home, they must learn to control their emotions and reconcile their feelings and actions. According to the researchers, "the ability to get a perspective on one's self is blocked" because emotions have been continually repressed. They found that soldiers returning to civilian life often redefine their emotions in hyper-masculine ways, including toughness or self-sacrifice. High rates of post-traumatic stress disorder coupled with increasing rates of suicide, substance abuse and alcoholism place mental-health problems for returning veterans at crisis levels. Yet, the number of mental health professionals is declining, which has encouraged the Veterans Administration to work on increasing its mental health staff. Read more.

Wars putting special stress on military families

Add to the list of homefront troubles from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the military members are disproportionately rural, some things that really hit home: divorce and domestic disputes.

"The strains and separations of no-end-in-sight wars are taking an ever-growing toll on military families despite the armed services' earnest efforts to help," reports David Crary of The Associated Press. "Divorce lawyers see it in the breakup of youthful marriages as long, multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan fuel alienation and mistrust. Domestic violence experts see it in the scuffles that often precede a soldier's departure or sour a briefly joyous homecoming."

Crary writes, "A Pentagon-funded study last year concluded that children in some Army families were markedly more vulnerable to abuse and neglect by their mothers when their fathers were deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. In Iraq, the latest survey by Army mental health experts showed that more than 15 percent of married soldiers deployed there were planning a divorce, with the rates for soldiers at the late stages of deployment triple those of recent arrivals." Army wife Jessica Leonard told Crary, "Infidelity is huge on both sides — a wife is lonely, she looks for attention and finds it easier to cheat. It does make even the most sound marriages second-guess."

Crary has several chilling examples of violence brought home. The Army told him that its domestic violence rates are no worse than for civilian families, but Johns Hopkins nursing professor Jackie Campbell, who served on a Defense Department domestic-violence task force, told him, "They have no clue what the rate of domestic violence is — they only know what's reported to the system, and that's always lower than the actual rate." And other critics say there is a lack of comprehensive, updated data that reflects the impact of war-zone deployments and tracks cases involving veterans, reservists and National Guard members," he writes. "The Miles Foundation, which provides domestic-violence assistance to military wives, says its caseload has more than quadrupled during the Iraq and Afghan conflicts."

In some ways, the domestic burdens are greater than in previous wars because of "the deployment pattern — two, three, sometimes four overseas stints of 12 or 15 months," Crary writes. "In the past, that kind of schedule was virtually unheard of." Rene Robichaux, social work programs manager for the U.S. Army Medical Command, told him, "There's nothing that has prepared many of our families for the length of these deployments. It's hard to communicate to a family member how stressful the environment is, not just the risk of injury or death, but the austere circumstances, the climate, the living conditions." (Read more)

Rural recruits admitted despite criminal histories may pose risks for their hometowns upon return

Given disproportionate military recruitment from rural America, crimes committed by returned soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are a growing concern in rural jurisdictions -- especially because the services have been admitting more recruits with criminal records that normally would disqualify them.

"Experts said that since crime is not a typical symptom of PTSD, their subsequent crimes more likely were a product of their backgrounds than of the war," but those with criminal histories were more likely to suffer PTSD, Russell Carollo writes for The Sacramento Bee. Carollo examines cases of recruits from several states who had criminal histories prior to their service and were charged with crimes after returning from the war. Read more.

The Bee picks up where the Los Angeles Times left off. David Zucchino wrote for the Times about Cody Morris, a 19-year-old veteran diagnosed with PTSD. Morris was "eager" to leave Bardwell, Ky., and recalls "a turbulent upbringing." He was sent to a military-themed reform school at 15 for serving as a lookout while a friend robbed a store and earned a GED at 17. Zucchino's article did not mention whether or not Morris received a waiver because of his criminal offense, but says Morris met the National Guard's standards. Morris and his best friend since the fourth grade, Casey Hall, 18, joined the Guard together. "Morris seemed to find a home in the military, with its codes of honor and discipline," Zucchino writes. But he was convicted of reckless homicide and tampering with evidence following Hall's death on Oct. 18 from a gunshot placed perfectly between his eyes.

Zucchino writes of Morris, right, "His base near Baghdad was attacked almost daily. He described shooting an insurgent in the chest and seeing his face as he died. He spoke of seeing bodies floating in a canal and stepping on human brains during a house raid." A military psychiatrist diagnosed Morris with PTSD after Morris' disturbing personality changes were cited by his team leader. Read more. (Photo by Stephen Lance Dennee, The Associated Press)

In September 2006, the state of California authorized state judges to sidestep sentencing guidelines and decide between treatment or jail for veterans convicted of any crime. Other states, including New York, Montana and Minnesota, contacted California officials as word of the law spread, and Minnesota became the second state to pass similar legislation in May.

All rural areas are potential victims of crimes committed by war veterans, and perhaps more so because of higher recruitment rates. Has it happened in your community? If not, it might be coming soon, and the medical community still has a lot to learn about the disorder and how to treat it, a West Virginia psychologist told the Charleston Rotary Club, Rusty Marks of The Charleston Gazette reports.

Military enlistment remains strong in rural areas; database has recruiting rates for every county

Recruitment for the military remains strong despite decreased support for the war in Iraq. Many recruits come from small towns and rural areas, where economic opportunities are limited and military service has "always been a ticket up and out," Dee Davis of the Kentucky-based Center for Rural Strategies told Gloria Hilliard of National Public Radio, who visited Hemet, Calif., at the foot of the San Jacinto Mountains 80 miles east-southeast of Los Angeles, for her story.

Hilliard reports that military service presents rural recruits with opportunities, job security, careers and adventure. A female recruit told her, "I want to make something of my life, and (military service) gives nice opportunities and just sets me up for a great future." A male recruit said, "Hemet is such a small town that there's just nothing out here, and (military service) is my window to the world." Hemet's population is 44,000, small compared to L.A. Read more and listen here.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch "reviewed Department of Defense data for every active-duty, Reserve and National Guard recruit, who by far represent the majority of forces serving in Iraq and Afghanistan," reporters Phillip O'Connor and Kevin Crowe write. "The analysis found that rural America continues to be fertile ground for recruiters." It showed that per capita, "Four of the top 10 counties [in recruiting] were home to large Army posts, led by Geary County, Kan., home of Fort Riley. "Residents of such areas tend to have more familiarity and interaction with the military and are more receptive to the idea of military service, the Army says. Installations host activities open to the public and are active in civic life. In addition, many military retirees and families congregate in such areas."

The analysis excluded counties with populations of less than 1,000. Including them, the top two counties were Grant and Arthur in Nebraska, which together had nine recruits. No. 2 in recruitment was Menominee County, Wis., where 90 percent of residents are members of the Menominee tribe, which has a "warrior tradition." (Read more) The Post-Dispatch has placed the data on its Web site, in a searchable database, so you can check recruiting rates for any county or state. In Kentucky, for example, the counties with the top five enlistment rates are Hardin (home of Fort Knox), Wolfe, Union, Whitley and Edmonson.

Because of higher enlistment rates, Davis told Alex Cohen of NPR, servicemen and women from rural areas have a 60 percent higher death rate than their non-rural peers, but they keep enlisting. "There's a real tradition of military service in rural areas, and, I think, for a lot of folks who come from marginal economic backgrounds, military's been great in terms of giving training, getting jobs," Davis said. "Often times it's hard for people from rural communities to break into the job market or to be accepted. The military's always been a great equalizer."

Polling done for Davis's center show Iraq second only to fule prices as a topic of voter concern. "For people in rural areas, the war's not an abstraction," he said. "You feel it viscerally. You know somebody who's there. You know of families who have troops there. it's a real issue, and often these small towns have sent their first responders: the med techs, the volunteer fireman, the policeman, have gone over there so (rural communities) have to bear some of the burden of dealing with the issues." Read more and listen here.

May 13 conference to focus on needs of rural vets

With the war in Iraq in its sixth year and a new generation of veterans needing care, Geisinger Health System of Danville, Pa., will host a conference May 13 with military and civilian experts to increase understanding and meet the unique challenges faced by rural soldiers. The goal of the conference, "Combat Stress Injuries/Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Implications for Rural Veterans and Their Families," is to encourage regional health care workers to work together to triage vulnerable rural soldiers to the Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies. (Encarta map)

Today, rural soldiers returning from a deployment — and eager to get home — often find themselves miles away from the closest government facility. As a result, many postpone needed behavioral care. The conference will focus on making sure rural soldiers receive timely care from the appropriate source. Attendees will include doctors, nurses, social workers, mental health counselors and veterans. Florida State University Traumatology Institute Director Charles Figley, Ph.D., will be the keynote speaker. Retired U.S. Army officer and former Wilkes-Barre television news anchor Keith Martin will be the moderator.

Geisinger Health System says it is one of the nation’s largest integrated health services organizations and serves more than 2 million residents of central and northeastern Pennsylvania.

Philly mayor seeks Democratic presidential forum on urban issues; how about one on rural issues?

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter called yesterday for a presidential forum on urban issues, and Sen. Hillary Clinton, whom he is supporting in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary, immediately agreed.

A spokesman for Sen. Barack Obama said, "We welcome a conversation about urban issues. We'll see what develops with his schedule."

Speaking for the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, we would welcome a conversation about rural issues -- which, as far as we can tell, have not been spotlighted in the presidential race since late October, when we and several other groups sponsored a forum at the National Summit on Agriculture and Rural Life in Ames, Iowa. Obama and Sen. John Edwards spoke at that forum, and Clinton participated by video link. (Associated Press photo above shows the two remaining candidates at a happier time, Jan. 31.)

Now that the Democratic field has narrowed to two candidates, and most of the primaries after Pennsylvania are in some of the more rural states, we think it's time for another forum on issues that are important to the one in five Americans who live in rural areas. Here are just a few: Access to broadband and other technology for competitive economic development; how to adjust the Farm Bill to better support sustainable rural development; how to change the No Child Left Behind Act to ease its impact on rural schools while maintaining its goal of better and equal education; how to answer questions about emphasis and balance among food, agriculture and energy; and how to address the chronic problems of rural health care, including that for injured Iraq war veterans, who are disproportionately rural.

Some of those issues overlap with topics Nutter cited yesteday, according to Dave Davies of the Philadelphia Daily News, who quoted his mayor as saying, "What are you going to do about public education . . . jobs and economic development, re-entry programs? How do we finally start to lift people out of poverty? That's what candidates should be talking about. I'd like to have that discussion right here in Philadelphia." (Read more)

And because our institute is based in Kentucky, a state that votes May 20 and is more than twice as rural as Pennsylvania (44 percent to 21 percent), we'd like to see it here. But the location is far less important than the need to have such a forum. Let us know what you think, via comments or e-mail.

The 'Marlboro Marine' is still at war, with himself

The Marlboro Marine is back in the news. Lance Cpl. James Blake Miller, 23, was honorably discharged with post-traumatic stress disorder exactly a year after Los Angeles Times photographer Luis Sinco took an iconic picture of him (left) during a firefight in Fallujah, Iraq. Sinco wrote about his continuing relationship with Miller in November; in the latest Rolling Stone, Jenny Eliscu focuses on Miller and gives new details of his life deep in far Eastern Kentucky. The story is harrowing.

Eliscu reports, "As cigarette butts overflow in the ashtray and empty beer bottles collect around him, he silently cycles through procedures the Marine Corps drilled into his head: defend, reinforce, attack, withdraw, delay. He knows it's only seven steps to the front door, but he worries whether his truck has enough gas to make an escape. He wishes someone had told him that 'There may come a time when all that shit you learned, you might not be able to turn it off.' Since returning home from Iraq three years ago, Miller rarely sleeps more than once every few days. When he can get some sleep, he makes sure he's got a gun under his pillow. His entire life has been thrown into a strange and purposeless blend of chaos and inertia; though he doesn't do much these days besides smoke, drink beer and ride his Harley, he seems to teeter perpetually on the brink of a meltdown. Occasionally, and without provocation, Miller becomes so overwhelmed by blind rage that he imagines shooting a stranger in the kneecaps or beating a fellow bar patron to a bloody pulp."

Miller told Eliscu he was driven to enlist by the 9/11 attacks and a desire to leave Kentucky. "It was the only way I knew to travel and see the world," he said. "I just happened to pick a weird time to go. I got to travel, and it was a life-altering experience, that's for sure." Eliscu writes, "The town of Jonancy, nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains, is the kind of place that inspires thoughts of escape. Unemployment in the area is 35 percent higher than the national average, the median household income is less than $24,000 and only 10 percent of county residents earn college diplomas."

Here's the really rural angle: "Miller hasn't been to a doctor in over a year, and, like so many vets, he seems to have fallen off the government's radar. He tried the abundance of medications — antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds, mostly — that the Veterans Administration has sent him, but they only exacerbated his nightmares, jitters and apathy. And therapy is hard to get in places like Jonancy: For a while, he tried living in West Virginia to be near a PTSD specialist, but he missed his familiar surroundings and moved back home." Sinco told Eliscu, "It's hard to hang out with him sometimes. You end up driving 1,500 miles at the drop of a hat because he's in the mood to go somewhere."

Eliscu writes, "There is a heavy institutional stigma about mental-health issues in the armed forces, and since the military doesn't conduct mandatory post-deployment psych evaluations in person, vets like Miller are left to make their own health-care decisions. . . . Miller receives a monthly benefit of $2,500 in disability payments — compensation not only for his mental injuries but for an array of physical impairments including hearing loss in his right ear, shrapnel scarring and a bacterial infection in his tear ducts. He has no cartilage left in either knee, and the muscles in his feet have calcified from carrying a 200-pound pack on his back in Iraq."

He still carries burdens not measured in pounds. When he wakes up each morning, Miller told Eliscu, he asks himself, "What did I do to make me deserve another day? What have I done in my life that my buddies didn't do to make me deserve so many days?" (Read more)

Iraq, 5 years on: City enlistment drops; rural stable

As we noted Sunday, the upcoming fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq has reporters reflecting, and noting rural America's disproportionate share of the human cost. The trend appears likely to increase. Douglas Fischer the San Mateo County Times reports that inner-city recruiting has "dried up" but "Rural areas remain stable," with an enlistment rate 43 percent higher than in major cities.

The paper's analysis of enlistment data from 2001, 2003 and 2006 show last year's enlistments in cities of more than 300,000 "dropped, on average, 15 percent from levels from before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." Per-capita enlistment in such cities is now 8.7 per 10,000 people; in small towns, 12.4 per 10,000.

Fischer has a great lede for his story: "Five years into the war in Iraq, not one service member from Oakland has been killed in battle. Sixty miles to the east, the ranching and bedroom community of Tracy, one-fifth Oakland's size, has lost seven soldiers to the war." Tracy has 80,000 people and an enlistment rate of 13.3 per 10,000. (Photo by Gina Halferty of the San Joaquin Herald shows the pertinent part of Tracy's war memorial, due for an update.)

Tim Marema, vice president of the Whitesburg, Ky.-based Center for Rural Strategies, told Fischer the economic opportunities — are lack there of in rural areas — have a clear influence. "For young people who want to choose the military, good for them. Our nation needs them," Marema said. "But it shouldn't be a choice made under duress. It should be a choice, and, in the sense of fairness, we would hope all our young people would have the same opportunities as they look at how they want their lives to unfold." (Read more)

Iraq war, 5 years on, tests the loyalty of Loyal, Wis.

Loyal, Wis., "is a city of four bars, three churches, three gas stations, two feed mills, two banks, a bowling alley, grocery store, modest homes and 1,290 people," and two casualties in Iraq, where a war enters its sixth year this week, writes Bill Glauber of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Like many rural places, Clark County has lost more than its share of soldiers in Iraq, probably because the military is a greater source of employment for rural youth than for their counterparts in suburbs and cities. (Journal Sentinel map)

The word of the county's two casualties arrived in Loyal exactly two years apart, on the days after Christmas in 2004 and 2006. The first was a father of four, a youth football coach and a bank vice president. The second was a Loyal High School graduate who had gone straight into the Marines. The two men "are honored as heroes. Esteem is less secure for the war in which they fell," the Journal Sentinel says under its headline, "Loyal weighs the cost."

The newspaper distributed a voluntary-reply survey about the war, drawing 224 respondents who said they lived in Loyal. Two-thirds said they opposed the war. Just over half "said the U.S. should begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within a year, and one-fifth favored an immediate withdrawal," Glauber reports, noting that the poll was unscientific and "There is not one anti-war sign in the city." Coni Meyer, who works in the high-school office, told him, "It isn't going to help a grieving family if you're angry."

Loyal was named for Civil War veterans who "proclaimed they were loyal to the Union. That loyalty is tacked to a large plaque at American Legion Post 175, more than 700 tiny pieces of wood emblazoned with the names of those from the area who served in America's armed forces," Glauber reports. (Photo by Kristyna Wentz-Graff) "It is difficult to bridge the space between Loyal and Iraq. ... Loyal is tethered to another 3,000 people who live in surrounding townships and communities that dot the rolling farmland. Some of the old farms are now owned by Old Order Amish families who ride the back roads in horse-drawn buggies painted black. Over there, in Iraq, is an expanse of desert, cluttered, broken cities, a society that continues a fitful and violent emergence from dictatorship, all while under the occupation and protection of U.S. forces. It is so peaceful in one place, often so bloody in another." (Read more)

Bone up on foreign policy in media call tomorrow

Foreign policy may seem foreign to some rural journalists, but it shouldn't, with our military relying heavily on rural recruits and a shaky economy that is often affected, even at the farm and small-town level, by events overseas.

The Council on Foreign Relations is making a special effort to bring foreign-policy issues to rural voters during this year's race for president. Tomorrow, it is hosting a listen-only media call with the foreign-policy advisers to the Clinton, Obama and McCain campaigns, moderated by Jim Hoagland of The Washington Post.

The call will take place from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Eastern time. The call-in number is 1-866-710-0179 and the passcode is C2008. The representatives will be Susan Rice for Obama, Mara Rudman for Clinton and Randy Scheunemann for McCain.

Iowa caucuses put spotlight on farm and rural vote

Our friends at the Center for Rural Strategies got some great play for their seven-month-old poll in today's Wall Street Journal. Previewing today's Iowa caucuses, reporter Amy Chozick used the survey to show that "rural states may be most receptive to the Democrat who wins the nomination." That would be a shift from the last two elections, in which President Bush's margin among rural voters was key to his victories.

Chozick reports two reasons for the shift: Democratic support for a Farm Bill that includes "controls on big agribusiness companies and subsidies for farmers," and the poll's finding that "nearly 60 percent of all rural U.S. citizens are close to, or related to, someone serving in Iraq." For such people, "This is not a television war, " Chris Peterson, president of the Iowa Farmers Union, told the reporter. For the pollsters' memo about the survey, click here.

Chozick reports that former Sen. John Edwards has "the advantage for farm votes" in Iowa. "He draws huge support in agricultural areas, where fans relate to his background and anti-corporate message," she writes, but adds, "Mr. Edwards's opponents aren't ceding the rural turf." New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has farmers from her state touring Iowa to say how she has helped them, and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama "has introduced a package of farm- and rural-development policies, including plans to rejuvenate rural communities by cultivating alternative energies such as wind farms and ethanol." But she adds, "Mr. Obama raised eyebrows in Adel when he asked a crowd of poor farmers: 'Anybody gone into a Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?' The upscale organic-supermarket chain doesn't have a single store in Iowa." (Read more; subscription may be required)

Army National Guard, a disproportionately rural force, is sending more soldiers to Iraq

"While the military as a whole is ramping down its presence in Iraq, its most politically sensitive component — the citizen-soldiers of the Army National Guard — is ramping up from 46,000 to 55,000 troops," reports the National Journal. And a graphic with the story illustrates that the Guard comes mainly from rural areas.

"Since its origins in the colonial militias of the 1600s, the Army National Guard has drawn most of its soldiers from small towns," the magazine says. "People living in highly urbanized states are generally less likely to enlist; those in rural areas, more likely."

Reporter Sydney Freedberg Jr. writes, "An Army National Guard unit recruits from its local community and may keep the same soldiers together for decades. That those communities keep producing volunteers six years into a global war speaks to the depth of their military traditions. ... Such ties are strongest in small towns -- not in more-rural areas, where people live too far apart to converge easily at a local armory, and not in large cities, with their abundance of social and economic alternatives."

"In some communities, the local Guard unit is one of the major sources of social cohesion," David Segal, University of Maryland sociology professor and the director of the school's Center for Research on Military Organization, told National Journal. "Being in the Guard is how one earns one's bona fides as a member of the community."

"But precisely because those bonds are so tight, the Guard does not provide the same social mobility that the regular military does," Freedberg writes. "All of these factors mean that the Army Guard has about half the percentage of African-Americans as the regular Army, significantly fewer Hispanics, and a lower ratio of women to men. As a rule of thumb, the lower a state's population density and the lower its percentage of minorities, the higher the percentage of its population likely to be serving in the Army National Guard. As a rule of thumb, the lower a state's population density and the lower its percentage of minorities, the higher the percentage of its population likely to be serving in the Army National Guard." (Read more)

Maine paper, then AP, report on suicide of Iraq vet

Local news media can tell many stories others cannot. Since the war in Iraq, they have taken on one of the toughest: the suicides of American soldiers while they are overseas or after they return home. Editor & Publisher has highlighted the newspapers that have addressed the issue, and the Sun Journal, a 34,000-circulation daily in Lewiston, Me., is the latest to do so.

Daniel Hartill, a reporter from the Sun Journal, wrote an in-depth article about one local veteran's story who took his own life on Thanksgiving. The article has been picked up by The Associated Press, which reported in October that at least 147 soldiers had committed suicide while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that at least 283 combat veterans who left the military between the start of the war and the end of 2005 had taken their own lives. To read the AP story based on Hartill's reporting, go here.