Suicide is the leading cause of death among active duty US soldiers. And it's widely known that suicide is a big problem for veterans, too—but solid statistics have been hard to come by. Now, a new study says that, yes, suicide is a problem for veterans. And for everyone else.

In the hours since Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta agreed to lift the nearly 20-year-old ban on women serving in military combat units, a significant number of conservative commentators have come forward to explain why the move is bad for women.

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is lifting the ban on women serving in combat roles, following the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and overturning the 1994 regulation that prevented women from serving in combat units. Our endless war machine is almost officially gender-neutral!

Look out the window: nice day, probably, eh? Sure, sure. And how about sports? Lots of sports going on right now. The United States Air Force would like to take this time to formally urge you to keep your mind on these and other soothing matters, and not on this morning's launch of the Top Secret Orbiting Space Weapon(?).

During the Cold War, the U.S. Army pursued a research program that used soldiers as lab rats to test the effects of various chemical agents—ranging "from tear gas and LSD to highly lethal nerve agents, like VX." As a huge class action suit against the government by those who were experimented upon nears its trial date, the New Yorker has dropped a huge piece full of details on just how much crazy shit our military was doing in a single secret facility in Maryland.

A group of military women, all Iraq or Afghanistan veterans, are suing to force the US military to end its ban on women in "direct combat jobs," contending that A) women end up fighting anyhow due to the eradication of "front lines" in modern warfare, and B) the exclusion from formal combat assignments severely limits women's ability to ascend the military's career ladder. So, great. Let them fight!

Married 43 year-old Navy nuclear submarine commander Michael Ward was having a little affair with a younger woman that he met online. These situations are a bit tricky to navigate, as you can imagine. How did Michael Ward extricate himself from it, when he was ready to end the affair? The old fashioned way: he "sent his mistress an email from a fictitious person named Bob in July, posing as a co-worker and saying that Ward had died unexpectedly."

In March 2009, an open letter signed by more than 1,100 retired admirals and generals claimed that repealing America's "don't ask, don't tell" policy would "undermine recruiting and retention, impact leadershipat all levels, have adverse effects on the willingness of parents who lendtheir sons and daughters to military service, and eventually break the All-Volunteer Force." It's now been one year since the military withdrew its ban on openly gay soldiers and—surprise—a new study says the repeal has had "no overall negative impact on military readiness or its component dimensions."

Pro-military candidate Mitt Romney has been called out for not mentioning the troops in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

In 2010, for the second year in a row, more American soldiers killed themselves than died in combat. Military officials knew they had an epidemic on their hands, but they didn't know how to mitigate the hyper-complex problem. It wasn't as easy as saying, "they all have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder," because a significant number of the soldiers who were killing themselves had never even seen combat.

Taxes. Deficits. Unemployment. Wall Street. Abortion. Gaffes. Jokes. Fashion. Sports. All of these things are being given more attention in America right now, by our presidential candidates and our media and ourselves, than a place called Afghanistan. Remember that place?

This is America. This ain't Saskatoon or Piscataway or Buddhistan or some other foreign speck of dust. This is America. We have an army. A god damn capital-A Army. A big badass American army with big ol' guns. And that army needs soldiers. Lots of soldiers. Lots of big god damn badass American soldiers to carry some big guns and show the freaks and the geek's what's what. There's Jesus in Heaven and there's god above and he gave man dominion over all things and guess what, that man is called The You Ess God Damn Army. Now you tell me, son: where exactly do you think we should find a bunch of god damn red-blooded boys ready to kill for god and country? Should we, should we, should we look up under the couch cushions? Should we look up under the floormat? Hey, I think I left m' god damn US Army recruits on my nightstand table! Should we look there? Hot shot? Oh, you probably think we should look up in the god damn fabric store, eh? How bout we look for one million future globe-dominating soldiers up in the La-mozz class? Is that it? Maybe we should go on down to the, to the Yankee Candle store down at the outlet mall and ask if they have any assistant managers lookin' for a little excitement? Maybe that's where we'll find the future Navy SEALS of America? Maybe a bunch of posey-picking little girls will beat up the next Sad-dam? Is that it? Or do you think maybe, maybe, maybe we should, lemme just propose this to ya, maybe we should take a look down at the ol' Nascar track? You think? Ya think that one might be a better idea, smart guy? Maybe we should go have a look at the ol' football stadium? For some strong young fellas? Would that be alright with you, pinky? Maybe we can find a few strong young boys who know a little something about kickin' butt down at the drag-racing spot, eh? That alright with you, Albert Einstein? Thank you so much. So if it ain't too much trouble and all, we're just gonna keep on spendin' our $80 million a year sponsorin' some stock cars and football games under the name of the God Damn Army of the United States of America, thank you very much. So stop your god damn bellyaching about it. There's still a few good men left in Congress, thank god.

Nine Nobel Peace Laureates are protesting a new reality show and it has nothing to do with Bravo's Real Housewives franchise.

You know, if I didn't know any better I'd say that most Americans in the USA are no brighter than your average Republican. What do we love? The military and the cops! What do we hate? Public schools and unions! Grrr!

As if our nation's military men and women don't have enough to look forward to with low salaries, underfunded V.A. benefits, and our frequent launching of unnecessary wars in which they will die, they all have something else waiting for them when the fighting is done:

On Sunday, MSNBC host Chris Hayes said the following, in a discussion about war, soldiers, and death: "It is, I think, very difficult to talk about the war dead, the fallen, without invoking valor, without invoking the word 'heroes'... I feel uncomfortable about the word 'hero' because it seems to me it is so rhetorically proximate to justification for more war... it seems to me that we marshal this word in a way that is problematic."

Good news for people who love freedom, hate terrorism, and people who do not live in Yemen and will never visit Yemen and do not appear to be from Yemen or its surrounding areas: the U.S. government is relaxing its rules for drone strikes in Yemen. When it comes to incinerating more or less inscrutable targets with unseen missile attacks like Zeus himself, why be encumbered by a bunch of bureaucratic rules?

Gary Stein is a 26 year-old nine-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, meaning he's been in there since he got out of high school. He's served in Iraq. He does not like our President and Commander-in-chief, Barack Obama. He made his displeasure known in the following ways:

Military service is compulsory in Turkey, and enlistment is denied to those deemed too sick, disabled, or gay for service. A small pink certificate listing the reason for exemption is issued; if you are gay, the certificate will read, ''psychosexual disorder'' and ''homosexuality" in brackets next to that.

A Colombian colonel has apologized to the families of two young men killed by the military after being ordered to do so by military command, Colombia Reports tells us. The murders were part of an ongoing scandal in Colombia that took part over the past two decades, known as the "false positives." From Colombia Reports: