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Stars and Stripes reports that, based on interviews with soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, divorce rates among military families will rise sharply. That would follow a trend of rising divorces in the general public in recent years.

 

Stars and Stripes says that, in 2004, nearly 10,477 military couples divorced, according to a Department of Defense report.

In the survey, families also suggested that every servicemember and family go through mandatory counseling upon the servicemember's return, to get around the stigma of seeking help.

 

Also, parents of single servicemembers felt ignored, even though unmarried military make up nearly half of deployed troops. But unlike spouses, parents of those troops are not given military ID cards and are often not able to access information and services available to military couples.

What's more, the magazine found that military-couple divorces steadily increased from 2002 (7,000 divorces reported) to 2003 (more than 7,500 divorces), and reported that Army officials speculate that the reasons for the increase range from alcohol misuse to anger-management issues for troops returning from deployment. 

Army researchers saw alcohol misuse rise from 13 percent among soldiers to 21 percent one year after returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, underscoring the continuing stress of deployment for some troops.

In post-deployment reassessment data completed in July, researchers also saw soldiers with anger and aggression issues increase from 11 percent to 22 percent after deployment. Those planning to divorce their spouse rose from 9 percent to 15 percent after time spent in the combat zone.

Talk to your local family court judges and find out what they're seeing.

 

Troops Ordered: "No Paying for Sex"

The Department of Defense has made it a crime for U.S. troops to patronize prostitutes worldwide. Stars and Stripes reports:

Even though the formal order came in an Oct. 14 presidential executive order, the news was still reaching some troops stationed in Europe. In fact, two of the three services reached said there was no formal program to tell servicemembers of the change.

"It's nothing that's new," said U.S. Army Europe spokesman Bob Purtiman.

Soliciting a prostitute has always been part of the Uniform Code of Military Justice's sexual misconduct and always has been against good order and discipline, Purtiman said. With the presidential executive order, it's just now found in another part of the UMCJ, thus, there is no need to brief soldiers in Europe, he said.

Fake Cops

 

Thanks to Al's Morning Meeting reader Jon Marshall, an adjunct prof at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, for passing along this story from the Chicago Sun-Times. The paper says in the last three years, Chicago area police have recorded 1,000 cases of people posing as cops.  Some of these imposer cops get involved in serious crimes.

 

It is interesting how often this happens. I found (via Google) these recent stories from around the country involving fake cops being arrested:

Fake Cops Rob Local Woman - WLNS, MI - Dec. 20, 2005
Police say two people pretending to be sheriff deputies are on the loose after robbing a 90-year-old woman at her home in Delhi Township.

Fake Cops Arrested - WTEN, NY - Dec. 13, 2005
... driver was making a delivery to Hamilton Street around 1:20 am on Sunday when the two men got out of their car and pretended to be undercover cops, one man ...

2 Men Possibly Linked to Fake Cop Robberies - WXYZ, MI - Jan. 3, 2006
Detroit police are now asking anyone who might have been robbed by two men posing as cops to call 313-596-1201.

Trust factor makes it easy for cops to be impersonated - WMC-TV, TN - Dec. 19, 2005
... Dempsey shops at the same supermarket where fake cops have struck. "These days, you just never know what to expect," says Dempsey. ...

Here is a Sun-Times chart of some crimes the fake officers have been linked to.

Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible.
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