Peace Talks End, and Violence Escalates, in Afghanistan

Peace Talks End, and Violence Escalates, in Afghanistan

It is apparent that America’s longest war will go on even longer, as neither side will be hammering their swords into plowshares anytime soon. Taliban and government leaders were scheduled to meet in a secret Camp David summit. Days before the meeting, a bomb in Kabul killed 12 people, including one American soldier and 10 civilians. After the Taliban took …

New Drugs May Reduce PTSD Symptoms

New Drugs May Reduce PTSD Symptoms

Fear and anxiety are two of the worst PTSD symptoms. A pair of new drugs may now help alleviate these symptoms in contractors who developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder in Iraq and elsewhere. Inside the brain, fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) enzymes are associated with fear and anxiety. Swedish researchers recently discovered that some patients experienced signs of fear extinction …

Contractor Presence Stepping Up in Guam

Contractor Presence Stepping Up in Guam

With international tensions rising in the South China Sea, what was once a sleepy little island in the South Pacific is becoming an important forward operating base for the DoD and private military contractors. In the airplanes’ first overseas deployment, a pair of MQ-4C Triton reconnaissance drones recently arrived in Guam. The Northrop-Grumman has a 60,000-foot cruising altitude and can …

Mercenary Survivors Struggle for Compensation in Russia

Mercenary Survivors Struggle for Compensation in Russia

When American military contractors are injured in the line of duty, they can count on the Defense Base Act. But when Russian mercenaries are injured in places like Syria, they have no such assurances. Olga Markelova lost her ex-husband and the father of her baby in Syria. Dmitri Markelova had left the Russian military to join the Wagner Group. Under …

Former Blackwater Contractor Sentenced in Nisour Square ‘Massacre’

Former Blackwater Contractor Sentenced in Nisour Square ‘Massacre’

A federal judge said jurors “got it right” when they found former contractor Nicholas Slatten guilty of murder in December 2018. The judge sentenced him to life in prison. The matter first went to trial in December 2008, when the U.S. Attorneys’ Office initiated action against Slatten and four other Iraq War contractors. Just before the trial began in 2010, …