WASHINGTON, DC—DoD is providing new online training to its medical personnel for administering deployment mental health assessments to deploying and returning servicemembers.

WASHINGTON, DC—DoD should establish a suicide prevention policy office at the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) level that disseminates best practices in suicide prevention to the field, a DoD task force set up to examine suicide prevention in the military found.

WASHINGTON, DC—In March 2008, when federal officials were quoting a wide range of numbers when citing the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a book was published that calculated an estimated total price tag that included the cost of OEF/OIF veterans’ healthcare and disability expenses over their lifetime. The book, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict, put the total estimated cost at between $3 trillion and $5 trillion—a figure that Congressional reports later agreed with.

WASHINGTON, DC—Civilian and military experts gathered to discuss the use of virtual world technology to address psychological health for servicemembers, veterans, and their families at a conference held by the National Center for Telehealth & Technology (T2) in August.

WASHINGTON, DC—Line commanders will play a greater role in ensuring that servicemembers in theater who may have sustained a head injury get medical attention, a DoD official said at the 4th Annual TBI Military Training Conference held in August.