Todd and Munley appeared together on Oprah yesterday and on the Today show this morning (clip above), and both made clear that Sgt. Todd was the one who disarmed shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan after Sgt. Munley was injured. An eyewitness who spoke with the New York Times concurred with their account. The Times's James McKinley Jr. explains,

The witness, who asked not to be identified, said Major Hasan wheeled on Sergeant Munley as she rounded the corner of a building and shot her, putting her on the ground. Then Major Hasan turned his back on her and started putting another magazine into his semiautomatic pistol.

It was at that moment that Senior Sgt. Mark Todd, a veteran police officer, rounded another corner of the building, found Major Hasan fumbling with his weapon and shot him.

But initial reports said that Munley's shots had stopped Hasan, and some news outlets were continuing to report this version of the story as recently as yesterday. Ewan McAskill of the Guardian wrote,

Although there is still some confusion about which shots brought down the alleged gunman, officials have attributed the bullets that brought him down to Munley.

The commander of the base, Lieutenant-General Bob Cone, said of Munley: "It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police officer."

Note the singular "officer." Cone also told CNN that Munley was the one who stopped Hasan, and that "the critical factor here was her quick response to the situation." Initially, the military appeared to be holding up Munley as the sole hero of Ft. Hood, a story which gained enough media credence that Gawker used it to argue that more women should be in combat positions (they've since published an update).

If the military actually knows whose gun brought Hasan down, they aren't talking — Lt. Col. John Rossi said at a press conference, "These questions are specific to the investigation and I am not going to address that." And when asked whether Sgt. Todd was the one who stopped Hasan, Lt. Col. Lee Packnett said, "It could have been, but the final outcome will be determined by the results of the ballistics tests." So if military sources are so reticent now, why were they so quick to hold up Munley as a heroine.

One possibility is that the initial version of the story is, as Gawker's Ravi Somaiya puts it, an "Oprah-friendly narrative." Munley is the mother of a young daughter who once stopped an intruder in her home, and this "petite police officer" may have seemed to both military and media like a compelling hero. Curry too harps on Munley's small size, saying, "you're 5'2", 125 pounds, why didn't you call for backup?" It's possible that officers and reporters reeling from the violence at Ft. Hood simply settled on the cliche of the feisty little woman who saved the day. A more upsetting possibility is that Munley was given more credit and media attention because she is white and Todd is black. I would hope this isn't the case — Munley described the scene as "confusing and chaotic," and it's certainly possible that Cone and others were simply mixed up as to who did what. But because of this mix-up, as Somaiya points out, conspiracy theories are bound to fly.

At Fort Hood, Witness Credits Second Officer [NYT]
Heroine Officer Tells Of Fort Hood Shooting [Guardian]
Full Interview With Ft. Hood Witnesses [Today]
The Heroes Of Fort Hood [Oprah.com]

[Kabul, November 11. Image via Getty]

US soldiers salute during a 'Veterans Day' ceremony at Camp Eggers in Kabul on November 11, 2009. NATO has a 71,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. AFP PHOTO/Massoud HOSSAINI (Photo credit should read MASSOUD HOSSAINI/AFP/Getty Images)

Meghan McCain reserves the strongest words for Obama, arguing:

This is the point we should be emphasizing for those who refuse to see Don't Ask Don't Tell opposition as a human-rights campaign. We need to bring the issue back to the security of our country both overseas and at home. Every soldier in our armed forces is serving his or her country in the most admirable way an American can, and we should be able to respect them, by not asking them to hide their sexual orientation.

But the second part of her argument is a bit questionable (emphasis added):

Now, I cannot speak for my brothers, but I know many men and women who serve in the military. Let's give them more credit. Just as there are no atheists in foxholes, I suspect it could be said that there is no homophobia in foxholes either. I find it hard to imagine that when a soldier is in a Humvee fighting terrorist insurgents, that the thing on his mind is who his fellow soldier chooses to sleep with when he's off duty.

I get her point, but again...aren't religious assumptions partly responsible for this mess?

Still McCain's article is part of the clearer headed contingent. With the growing strain on the ground and the repeated calls to add thousands more troops to the effort overseas, it seems absolutely foolish to persecute enlisted soliders based on their sexuality. Yet, that is exactly the practice being defended. According to CBS News:

Ending "Don't ask, don't tell" is opposed in Congress, with several members (including Republican Senator Lindsay Graham) saying the military needs to be consulted before ending the policy.

The military has been consulted - they said they need more troops. What's the issue here?

Unfortunately, the issue is either the biased policy or entrenched members of the service working to uphold this bias:

Ainsley Kling, 26, just completed 7 1/2 years with the Coast Guard; after her commitment was up, she left voluntarily with the rank of petty officer, second class. She wished Obama had gone further and ordered a halt to all ongoing investigations under "don't ask, don't tell."

Kling, who is lesbian, said harassment based on sexual orientation persists, recalling a Coast Guardsman who wrote "fag" on someone else's bicycle, though neither party was believed to be homosexual.

When she wanted to write up the violation, her supervisor urged her not to do so, saying that he "knew things about me he shouldn't know." She did not file the report.

Lt. Dan Choi (pictured above in a tee-shirt that says "Don't Hide") is rapidly becoming the face of the military's GLBTQ members.

A West Point graduate and Iraq war veteran, Choi is facing discharge under the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy for revealing in March that he is gay.

He appeared later at a rally in his Army uniform, a piece of black tape over his mouth.

"Many of us have been discharged from the service because we told the truth," he said.

In addition to the warring over Don't Ask, Don't Tell, gay rights activists also pushed hard for a repeal to the Defense of Marriage Act.

The president extended some benefits to the spouses of gay federal employees in June while voicing support for a House bill that grants them other rights. The State Department now allows married gay and lesbian couples to obtain passports with their married names. And the Census Bureau has agreed to release data on same-sex marriages.

But Obama is also clearly mindful of the politics of the combustible issue. Opposition remains strong in much of the country to extending rights to gays, especially where marriage is concerned.

House Democrats introduced a bill last month that would repeal the marriage act, but polls consistently show that opponents of legalizing same-sex marriage outnumber supporters. Twenty-nine states have banned same-sex marriage.

With a full plate of contentious domestic issues to solve, activists are beginning to wonder if Obama will actually make time for these issues, or allow his commitment to equal rights to waver in the face of pressure. However, Obama continues to say he fully supports civil rights:

He expressed strong support for the HRC agenda of ending discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people but stopped short of laying out a detailed plan for how to get there.

"My expectation is that when you look back on these years you will look back and see a time when we put a stop against discrimination ... whether in the office or the battlefield," Obama said.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell Makes America Unsafe [The Daily Beast]
Report: U.S. general calls for more troops in Afghanistan [CNN]
Obama renews pledge to gays to end 'don't ask, don't tell'[LA Times]
Gay rights marchers in DC: 'We won't back down' [Associated Press]
As Pressure Grows, Obama Addresses Gay Rights Group [Washington Post]
Obama again pledges to change policy on gays [AP]

So, how did this start? According the BBC's country profile of Guinea, Camara rose to power in a "bloodless coup" after the death of President Lansana Conte at the end of last year. Initially, Camara was popular with the people, promising democracy and a more transparent society.

However, in an article published post-massacre, the BBC reports that Camara's behavior had grown increasingly contradictory in the months leading up to the protest:

Following the coup, he said he had not come to power by chance, listing a patriotic spirit and generosity among his leadership qualities.

His popularity has now dwindled, as he appears to be reneging on his promises of a transition to democracy and has shown signs of wanting to hold onto power.

After shooting at the protesters, the soldiers in the square decided to take their domestic terrorism one step further - they began to rape and sexually assault women in the streets. The New York Times reports:

Cellphone snapshots, ugly and hard to refute, are circulating here and feeding rage: they show that women were the particular targets of the Guinean soldiers who suppressed a political demonstration at a stadium here last week, with victims and witnesses describing rapes, beatings and acts of intentional humiliation. [...]

One photograph shows a naked woman lying on muddy ground, her legs up in the air, a man in military fatigues in front of her. In a second picture a soldier in a red beret is pulling the clothes off a distraught-looking woman half-lying, half-sitting on muddy ground. In a third a mostly nude woman lying on the ground is pulling on her trousers.

Rape is a fairly common tool of military repression in Africa, but large-scale violence against women has not been a previous government tactic here. "This time, a new stage has been reached," said Sidya Touré, a former prime minister who was also beaten at the stadium and said he had witnessed brutalities there. "Women as battlefield targets. We could never have imagined that."

"Where could people get the idea to start raping women in broad daylight?" Mr. Touré asked, in an interview at his home here. "It's so contrary to our culture. To molest women using rifle barrels. ... "

In response to this dire situation, the international community has called for an intervention. France, the former colonial ruler of Guinea - located on the west coast of Africa and bordering Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Mali, Liberia and Sierra Leone - has threatened to cease all business with the country; Camara has responded that Guinea is a sovereign nation and will deal with its own "internal matters."

Amid these tensions, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has stepped to the forefront of crisis. In keeping with her pledge to make women the cornerstone of her national security strategy, she has already released a statement condemning the actions.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for "appropriate actions" against a military government that she said "cannot remain in power."

"It was criminality of the greatest degree, and those who committed such acts should not be given any reason to expect that they will escape justice," Mrs. Clinton told reporters in Washington. She said that the nation's leader, Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, and his government "must turn back to the people the right to choose their own leaders."

But will these efforts be enough? The position of the US is a major influence on international policy, but will it work in nations like Guinea, who have tenuous ties, at best, to the United States?

"In America's view, Moussa Dadis Camara can't be president, and we are going to hold him to that," [William Fitzgerald, deputy assistant secretary of state] said.

He acknowledged that "America's leverage is not as strong here as it is in many parts of Africa," but he said that sanctions, a visa ban and an asset freeze were all possibilities.

In the meantime, the women of Guinea are waiting for a resolution.

In A Guinea Seized by Violence, Women Are Prey [NY Times]
Country Profile: Guinea [BBC]
Guinea's Erratic Military Ruler [BBC]
In A Guinea Seized by Violence, Women Are Prey [NY Times]
U.S. Envoy Protests Violence in Guinea [NY Times]

In the new series "Women At Arms," the Times explores the world of women in a combat zone. Once relegated to the sidelines of battle, increasingly vague battle lines and the intense need for soldiers has caused many military officials to skirt congressional mandates and start using women in a much greater capacity.

However, while important innovations have been made with women earning recognition for their determination and sacrifice, two other areas of concern have bubbled to the surface. In the first article, "G.I. Jane Breaks the Combat Barrier," it is explained:

This quiet change has not come seamlessly - and it has altered military culture on the battlefield in ways large and small. Women need separate bunks and bathrooms. They face sexual discrimination and rape, and counselors and rape kits are now common in war zones. Commanders also confront a new reality: that soldiers have sex, and some will be evacuated because they are pregnant.

This assertion that pregnancy bears special consideration is also repeated later in the article:

To be sure, not all women in the military embrace the idea of going into combat. Like men, a few do what they can to try to get out of deployments. Military women and commanders say some women have timed their pregnancies to avoid deploying or have gotten pregnant in Iraq so they would be sent home. The Army declined to release numbers on how many women have been evacuated from a war zone for pregnancy.

However, this does not seem to be as large of a deal as it sounds. The next article in the series, "Living and Fighting Alongside Men, and Fitting In," explains:

Women do become pregnant - a condition that, intentional or not, in or out of wedlock, requires the woman to be flown out within two weeks, causing personnel disruptions in individual units.

The Army and Marine Corps declined to say exactly how many women left Iraq and Afghanistan as a result of pregnancies, but it appears to be relatively rare and has had little effect on overall readiness, commanders say. At Warhorse, the First Stryker Brigade, which has thousands of soldiers, has sent only three women home because of pregnancies in 10 months in Iraq, the brigade said.

A larger problem is sexual harassment and rape - both on and off the battlefield. Not only is domestic violence (often ending in fatalities) a well established problem, but female troops on deployment have to deal with even more uncomfortable and possibly deadly situations:

Sexual harassment in a still-predominantly male institution remains a problem. So does sexual assault. Both are underreported, soldiers and officers here say, because the rigidity of the military chain of command can make accusations uncomfortable and even risky for victims living in close quarters with the men they accuse.

We've seen these types of stories before, most notably in the cases of Pfc. LaVena Johnson and Kamisha Block, both women who died while deployed, either at the hands of their intimate partners or other members of their unit. However, the articles choose to focus more on the outside dangers:

As a precaution, women are advised to travel in pairs, particularly in smaller bases populated with Iraqi troops and civilians. Capt. Margaret D. Taafe-McMenamy, commander of the intelligence analysis cell at Warhorse, carries a folding knife and a heavy, ridged flashlight - a Christmas gift from her husband, whom she lives with here - as a precaution when she is out at night on the base.

There is also a heavy focus on cultural differences, particularly in terms of the roles of women soldiers in an environment like Iraq:

The involvement of women in it has been a cultural shock for Iraqi men far less accustomed to dealing with women professionally, especially in the military.

Women spoke of inappropriate comments or uncomfortable flattery, and even gifts. "It was everything from candy to lingerie," said Capt. Victoria Ferreira, 29, who spent a year with an 11-person squad training Iraqi officers. "How do you react to that? ‘Thank you?' "

For the most part, though, Iraqis seem to accept the role of women in the American military - they have even expanded their own ranks for tasks like searching women at checkpoints - even if it seems unlikely that women will be incorporated more widely into the Iraqi armed forces anytime soon.

The words of Patricia F. Bradford (pictured above) give an accurate summation into the lives of female soldiers, who despite proving themselves in tough situations, find that they are still fighting the same battle, day after day.

Staff Sgt. Patricia F. Bradford, 27, a psychological operations soldier, said that slights, subtle and not, were common, and some were easier to brush off than others. Women are still viewed derisively at times in the confined, occasionally tense space of an outpost like Warhorse.

"You're a bitch, a slut or a dyke - or you're married, but even if you're married, you're still probably one of the three," Sergeant Bradford said.

G.I. Jane Breaks the Combat Barrier [NY Times]
Living and Fighting Alongside Men, and Fitting In [NY Times]
When Strains on Military Families Turn Deadly [NY Times]

Earlier: There Really Aren't Ways In Which They Won't Lie
What's The Military Hiding About LaVena Johnson & Kamisha Block's Deaths?

[Arlington, August 4. Image via Getty]

ARLINGTON, VA - AUGUST 04: LyVonne Lightfoot (3rd R) holds a folded American flag while sitting next to her son U.S. Army Spc. Anthony M. Lightfoot's casket during his burial ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery August 4, 2009 in Arlington, Virginia. Assigned to the 4th Battalion, 25th Field Artillery, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, Spc. Lightfoot, 20, of Riverdale, Georgia, joined the Army in January 2008. Spc. Lightfoot and three other soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb followed by a small arms and rocket-propelled grenade attack in Wardak Province, Afghanistan. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

[Fort Stewart, Georgia, July 12. Image via Getty.]

FORT STEWART, GEORGIA - JULY 12: U.S. Army SPC Kenneth Kelly holds his daughter Gianna Kelly after returning home from a 15 month deployment in Afghanistan July 12, 2009 in Fort Stewart, Georgia. The 130 Soldiers with the 549th Military Police Company, 385th MP Battalion returned after their 15 deployment in Afghanistan where they trained the members of the Afghanistan National Police. (Photo by Stephen Morton/Getty Images)

The generic, made by Watson Pharmaceuticals and called Next Choice, will be prescription only and aimed at women 17 and younger until August 24, when Duramed Pharmaceuticals's exclusive contract to market over-the-counter plan Plan B. At that time, the generic will be available over-the-counter, a fact that will most likely be a boon to women who find the cost of brand-name Plan B prohibitive.

While the FDA's decision to allow the over-the-counter sale of Plan B to girls 17 and younger has improved access, not everyone can buy the drug. A Missouri law, for instance, allows pharmacies to refuse to sell Plan B. Similar laws exist in Idaho, Illinois, and Washington. Military women, too, have difficulty accessing the drug, as it is not on the list of medications that must be stocked at military pharmacies. As Nancy Northup of RHRealityCheck points out, this means that women who are assaulted during their military service (there were 2,668 assaults reported in 2007) may have no way of getting emergency contraception, especially if they are stationed at a base overseas.

In a moving editorial after over-the-counter sales were extended to girls under 17, Elizabeth Garber-Paul wrote,

My first trip for a Plan B pill was a cold, dreary bus ride up Lake Shore Drive to the Planned Parenthood in downtown Chicago. I remember looking out over the frozen lake, wondering what would happen if I couldn't get the pill that afternoon. I was 15, and not ready to deal with making the decision between pregnancy and abortion. (At 22, I can confidently say that I'm still not.)

Luckily, as a teen I was informed enough to know what to do. It took me two attempts to make it to the center when it was open-closed every other Sunday-and the longer I waited, the less effective I knew the pills would be. I can't imagine how much terror would have been avoided had I been able to stop into the 24 hour Walgreens with my boyfriend immediately after the condom broke.

The availability of a generic option, when it becomes over the counter, should make emergency contraception easier. However, it's still not available to everyone. Garber-Paul writes, "a lonely bus is no place for a scared girl." Nor is a pharmacy a place for ideology.

FDA Approves Generic Version Of Plan B [Wall Street Journal]
EC Still Inaccessible For Military Women [RHRealityCheck]
Watson Gets FDA Approval For Generic Plan B [AP]
Missouri House OKs Amendment To Let Pharmacies Refuse Contraception Pills [Missourian]
Planned Parenthood Applauds FDA On Plan B [Planned Parenthood]
Washington Pharmacists Can Refuse To Dispense Plan B Contraception [Wall Street Journal]
Plan B: Trouble In Illinois [Broadsheet]

[New York, June 11. Image via Getty]

NEW YORK - JUNE 11: Participating in a joint wedding event sponsored by the USO and WE tv, military brides walk past bags of garbage in Times Square on June 11, 2009 in New York City. A total of five couples were married in a ceremony at the Military Island in Times Square to help launch a new television show on the cable channel and to celebrate the traditional beginning of the nuptial season. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The rest of his life is a bit murky, told in bits and pieces by my father, who drops small tales now and again, when he thinks nobody is really listening.

Born in 1920, my grandfather hit adolescence as America hit rock bottom. The Depression was a difficult time for him, as it was for most working-class families, and with little opportunities, he signed up for the Marine Reserves at the age of 18, hoping for a chance at a better life. A year later, Adolf Hitler invaded Poland, and World War Two began.

My grandfather was sent to the Pacific, where he engaged in several battles- most notably, The Battle of Iwo Jima, where he stood and watched the famous American flag raising scene that, to many, is the symbol of America's strength during World War Two. My father says he used to joke about it all the time- if only they'd said, "Charlie, come here, help us with this damn flag," he could have been in that famous photograph. Instead, he was on the ground, watching for movement in the distance, clutching his weapon to his chest and dodging the bullets that were taking out his fellow soldiers, his friends.

He survived the Battle of Iwo Jima relatively unscathed; it was the next battle that almost killed him. During the Battle of Okinawa, from what I understand, my grandfather caught sight of a sniper hole and rushed it in order to take out the snipers and save his fellow soldiers. My father has never said if he was successful in this endeavor, but it is an unspoken understanding that he was. Nobody wants to say, "Your grandfather was brave enough to kill people." No father wants to tell his daughter that his own father had to take some lives, in order to save others. War is not a proud thing- the ends justify the means, but it doesn't make the means any easier to talk about.

My grandfather's bravery cost him- he was shot from shoulder to hip and left for dead. When the battle had ended, an officer came by and kicked my grandfather's boot, to see if he was still alive. With all the strength he had, my grandfather waved his pinkie finger. He was awarded the Purple Heart for bravery and sent back home to Massachusetts, where he married my grandmother and became a father to his only son, my dad, three years later.

My father says that he can remember going to the doctor's office with my grandfather, ten years after the war had ended. The doctors would lift my grandfather's shirt and apply salve to the scar that crossed his entire torso. Shrapnel remained in his skin, a painful reminder of the horrors of war and its consequences.

My father says that my grandfather never discussed the war. In pictures, you can see a distant look in his eye, a worried brow and a cigarette that remained in the corner of his mouth at all times. Though he died when I was only four years old, I can remember the way he spoke, his cigarette locked in his mouth, like John Wayne or Gary Cooper, stoic, silent, with eyes that gave both everything and nothing away.

When my father told me that my grandfather's favorite movie was the original "The Day The Earth Stood Still", I felt a little pang of sadness in my heart- it's one of my favorite movies as well, and my father loves it too. My father and I are the antithesis of my grandfather- we are books, we are desks, we are typewriters. My father never fought in a war- just as his number came up for Vietnam, an opening in the National Guard came up as well. Fearful of appearing a coward, my father asked my grandfather for advice. "I didn't want him to be disappointed in me," my father says.

My grandfather told him to take the Guard position. After all, he said, when he signed up for the Marines, he did so before the war had begun. He had no choice. "You have a choice not to go to war," my grandfather told my dad, "so take it."

Memorial Day, I think, is one of those holidays that gets lost in a sea of parties and parades and extra days off from work. It is further compounded by a distaste for war, and the connection to military action that makes us feel angry and betrayed and misrepresented and cold. Many people (including some involved) have trouble separating the military from war itself, trouble separating a soldier from the orders he or she is asked to follow.

My grandfather fought in a war that we were taught in school to celebrate, in battles that were immortalized in bronze. I suppose I should be proud of this fact, but there is a sadness attached to his War, to all wars, that does not elicit a response of pride as much as a desperate wish to eradicate the need for all such holidays, to understand the memories in the context we should understand them, to know that even a person who took a bullet from the enemy of the times never celebrated the end of all things, never talked about the days when the world was falling into darkness all around them, never displayed their Purple Heart, or even took it out of the box, for that matter.

My grandfather made it back from war; he carried the war with him for the rest of his life. But many people do not make it back, and that is what Memorial Day is really about, that is the quieter side of Memorial Day that often gets brushed aside in favor of summer kickoffs and such. We are meant to pause, to remember, to think of the lives lost, the lessons we should be learning. "It is no concern of ours how you run your own planet, but if you threaten to extend your violence, this Earth of yours will be reduced to a burned-out cinder," Klaatu says in my grandfather's favorite film.

The Purple Heart sits on my father's desk, next to the American Flag they gave my grandmother when my grandfather passed away. It is in its original case, where it sits next to a picture of my niece, my father's granddaughter, who is all eyes and teeth and unaware of the stories that sit in the box beside her.

[New York, May 21. Image via Getty]

NEW YORK - MAY 21: U.S. Navy sailors walk in Times Square during Fleet Week May 21, 2009 in New York City. Fleet Week, which annually brings an array of warships to New York City's harbors on Memorial Day weekend, is being celebrated this year with the smallest flotilla of ships since the event began 22 years ago, as budgets have been hampered by the current economic crisis. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

NPR's Michelle Martin discusses the problems military moms face with a panel of three women who have dealt with them firsthand. She asks them about the recent case of Lisa Pagan, the mother who brought along her children when she reported for duty. Pagan received an honorable discharge after arguing that she was unable to be deployed abroad due to her responsibilities to her family. Surprisingly, all three of the women disapprove - to varying extents - of Pagan's choice.

"When you are a military parent, you have to have that a plan B of who is going to take care of my child when I deploy, because it's not a matter of if you will deploy, but when you will deploy," says Lt. Carey Lohrenz. She goes on to remind us that military dads face the same problems, and it is the job of both the parents and the military to figure out an adequate system of childcare: "Military parents need affordable, dependable childcare when children are young... All service members across the board require more family support services. It is not just the women."

Lt. Linda Maloney agrees that it is the responsibility of the military to "support [enlisted parents] and the family members that are left behind." While she believes that Pagan should have better planned for the possibility of being called for duty, she also would like to see the military rethink the way they deal with mothers on duty.

Pilar Arteaga, a petty officer first class in the Navy, is a single mother, which makes her situation somewhat different. Her pregnancy was unexpected, which only made it more difficult to deal with the challenges of military life. For her, the biggest issue of being a woman in the navy is the constant struggle to "prove yourself" to the men. She feels that the "single parent card" is played far too frequently, and that women like Pagan end up making military moms look bad.

Ultimately, Lt. Lohrenz calls for the military to educate continuously: "It goes back once again to being a leadership challenge...not just a one time, one lecture initiative, but ongoing training to help prevent unplanned pregnancies... I think it is leadership, leadership, leadership."

'For Family, For Country': Military Moms Do It All [NPR]
NC Mom Recalled To Army Duty Will Be Discharged [ABC]

An LA Times piece by David Zucchino looks at what's happened in the investigation into LaVena Johnson's death since we wrote about it last summer. Sadly, nothing much has changed.

Johnson maintains that his daughter was raped and killed, and that her death scene was staged to make it appear as if she shot herself. He accuses the Army of covering up for a killer or killers to conceal a soldier-on-soldier slaying, explaining that military personnel would have had unrestricted access to the area where his daughter died and therefore would not have attracted undue attention.

If LaVena's death were investigated as a homicide, Johnson added, it would raise questions about base security and discourage women from enlisting.

In fact, in the information released to Johnson, the investigators speculated that Johnson was depressed after a break-up and finding out that she had condyloma — a sexually transmitted infection better known as "genital warts." In fact, investigators have an answer for every piece of evidence that contradicts the story that Johnson killed herself.

Grey, the Army spokesman, said the only blood found outside the tent was on a bench that had been removed after LaVena's body was discovered. Investigators are not aware of any boot prints in blood or on a cement bag, and they found no cuts, bruises or abrasions on her body "that would have led us to believe that they had been created by suspicious means," Grey said.

Investigators believe the bullet went through an open tent flap window, Grey said. They concluded that LaVena had started a small fire inside the tent and burned pages from her journal before she shot herself.

Grey said investigators demonstrated that it was "easily possible" for a person of LaVena's stature to shoot herself through the mouth with an M-16. And because investigators found no evidence of sexual assault, Grey said, there was no reason to collect vaginal or fingernail swabs.

Paul Stone, a spokesman for the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, said the damage to LaVena's face was consistent with the rapidly expanding gases discharged by an M-16, which he said could break bones and leave bruises and abrasions.The institute also concluded that LaVena committed suicide.

Part of the reason that none of these answers sound completely convincing is because the military does have quite the recent history of covering up the murder of female soldiers.

A case in point is Kamisha Block, whose death Peter Wilkinson sensitively explores in Maxim (no, for real! Maxim!). Kamisha, as it turns out, got involved with an abusive man to whom she reported, Staff Sergeant Paul Brandon Norris, which is a no-no in the military and has gotten people discharged. Instead, his superiors looked the other way as he transferred units to be closer to his girlfriend, threw fits and acted increasingly jealous in the weeks before shooting her 5 times in a rage.

Back at Fort Hood, Kamisha began to get a sense of Norris' consuming jealousy. One day, while packing up a truck, Kamisha had trouble lifting a box. A male corporal walked up to help and accidentally brushed her breast. According to a witness, an outraged Norris grabbed him by the collar and chewed out both the corporal and Kamisha. She complained to friends how "aggressive" Norris was with her, "in and out of bed."

Besides verbal abuse, Jane Block says, Staff Sergeant Norris also allegedly began physically abusing Kamisha: "He first assaulted her at Fort Hood. A friend of Kamisha's called me and said, ‘He grabbed her by the throat and shoved her against a wall.'" No charges were ever filed.

"Norris was high-strung," recalls a fellow MP. "He was always shouting at soldiers."

And that's just when they were stateside.

Norris had arrived at Camp Liberty in late June, several weeks after Kamisha. Within days she found herself transferred to Norris' 10-person squad. The word around Camp Liberty was that someone up the chain of command had done Norris a favor.

It's quite the favor, to get the woman you're not legally allowed to sleep with transferred into your unit.

To those soldiers stationed under him, Norris seemed to have a knack for taking things too far. If Kamisha showed up somewhere on base, Norris more often than not appeared as well. "Every night, Norris would find some time to spend with Specialist Block, using the excuse that he ‘couldn't sleep' or that he had ‘a lot of problems and needed somebody to talk to,'" recalls one soldier in a sworn statement. "I made comments to Specialist Block's old squad leader that he should do something or say something, to tell Staff Sergeant Norris the relationship was getting out of hand. The squad leader would laugh it off and say, ‘There's nothing I can do.'"

It wasn't until people in the unit started dying that Norris' superiors stopped laughing.

Several days later, on July 23, a senior officer confronted Brandon Norris, who flatly denied dating Kamisha. That same day a platoon sergeant sat down with Norris to discuss the "inappropriate relationship" and the allegation, from senior leaders, that he was showing Kamisha preferential treatment. In that meeting the counselor, who observed that "staff sergeants don't hang out with specialists," issued a stern warning: "This rela­tionship must stop immediately. Specialist Block will be reassigned to 1st Squad, and if you have any business that needs to deal with Spc. Block, you will use the chain of command or the NCO [noncommissioned officer] support channel."

Norris wasn't exactly willing to let it go, nor take responsibility for his own actions. He was, however, willing to ratchet up his abuse of Block.

Norris seemed to shift his anger from potential rivals toward Kamisha herself, who, friends say, wanted to break things off with her increasingly hostile boyfriend. In the first week of August, Norris upbraided Kamisha publicly, as she stood by her Humvee talking with a male soldier. Norris rushed up to her. "What are you doing hanging around him?" he screamed, grabbing Kamisha by her right arm. When she tried to move away, Norris shouted, "Don't walk away when I'm talking to you!"

"You're not supposed to grab other soldiers like that," the male soldier protested.

"You need to stay out of this," a seething Norris replied. "This is between an NCO and a soldier."

Three weeks later, he walked into Block shared barracks, ordered her roommate out and began yelling, finally firing his weapon into the wall to scare her. That's when her roommate ran back in.

Norris wheeled and pointed the Beretta at Jennings, who jumped behind a nearby barrier, then ran for help. It was too late. Inside trailer #15-255-C, Norris unloaded, shooting Kamisha Block five times, including rounds to her shoulder, chest, and head. Then, as his girlfriend lay on the floor of her trailer mortally wounded, Brandon Norris turned the gun on himself, putting a single bullet into the right side of his head. Medics who arrived minutes later found Norris dead at the scene and Kamisha, her pulse weak, wheezing, with a sucking chest wound.

Then, Army officials told her family that she was killed by friendly fire. It took Block's mother's personal investigation and quite a crusade to get the Army to admit that she's been deliberately killed by a superior officer with whom she was involved in an illegal and abusive relationship that their superiors had chosen to overlook for months. The revised report that the Army did release, however, was so heavily redacted and missing information that Block's former Congressman, Kevin Brady (R-Texas), had to pressure the Defense Department's inspector general to investigate the investigation.

So, basically, both women are still dead and the military's apparently still hiding things. Johnson's father thinks that they're doing it so as not to hurt recruitment, because finding out the military won't help you get out of abusive relationships or hold people accountable for your death is definitely worse than finding out they'll actively lie to your family about it.

Father Disputes Army's Suicide Finding In Daughter's Death [LA Times]
Love And Death In Iraq [Maxim]

Earlier: LaVena Johnson: Murdered By Her Colleagues, Ignored By The Army
There Really Aren't Ways In Which They Won't Lie

• Jessica Brooks, 18, suffered second and third degree burns after accidentally lighting her hair on fire. She was soaking her head in gasoline to kill her head lice when a pilot light ignited the fumes. • A new mother unwittingly killed her newborn daughter by kissing her while she had a cold sore. • A researcher from Kansas State University has found that the different ways male and female police officers deal with stress may actually cause them more stress. Don Kurtz also found that women are more likely to be assigned to emotionally stressful cases, like those involving the abuse of children or sexual assault. • Over 100 women showed up at the Western Wall Wednesday to pray and protest the "attempt to silence half of Jewish people" through restrictions on where and how they can pray. • Del Monte Foods has crowned its first Milk Bone spokesdog, Winston, a Great Dane from Wisconsin. • A Spanish mother took justice into her own hands and set fire to her daughter's gloating rapist. She is currently being held in prison and undergoing psychiatric tests. • Vassalboro, Maine just got its first topless coffee shop, and residents are not that happy about it. I just hope the servers have good balance with all that hot coffee. • Time to buy a vowel: this Friday, Wheel of Fortune will air its 5,000th show. • A new report shows that only 4% of Texas schools currently provide sex education beyond abstinence, and many programs give teens inaccurate information. • A 14-year-old girl just became the youngest divorcee in Israel. Her ex-husband is 17. • Heidi Hetzer, female mechanic and car dealer, has fought sexism for years, but is only now facing the most serious battle of her career: the recession. • This Wednesday, members of the first all-female, all-African-American unit, "Six Triple Eight," were presented with certificates of appreciation for their service during WWII. • An ex-student from the University of Portland is suing the school for failing to report her rape to police, and acting indifferent to negative postings about her on their social networking board. The student, who was 16 at the time of the attack, also seeks $1 million from the college sophomore who she names as her attacker. • The Elements of Intimacy is a rare book on sex education published in the UAE. Author Widad Loutah has received death threats and accusations of blasphemy for her attempts to education unmarried women about sex. • Breaking News: the Obamas may not get a Portuguese water dog. Press Secretary Katie McCormick Lelyveld says: "Mrs. Obama likes the Portuguese water dog, but she is only one of four votes." •

The documentary, part of PBS's “Independent Lens” film series, follows five women in an engineering battalion — part of the first "Team Lioness" group which volunteered to accompany male combat units to central Iraq. The women have diverse backgrounds — from supply clerk to West Point grad — but all are thrown into an unprecedented military situation. A Pentagon spokeswoman told the Times, “A recent RAND report confirms that the Army and all other services remain in compliance with the DOD policy regarding the assignment of women in the military" which prohibits female troops from direct combat. But, she continues, “Women will continue to be assigned to units and positions that may necessitate combat actions within the scope of their restricted positioning — situations for which they are fully trained and equipped to respond,”

As the documentary makes clear, in this new military world, with its guerrilla warfare, there is no distinction between "combat" and the discharge of normal duties — which included searching and communicating with Muslim women. As a result, more female soldiers than ever before have ended up in combat, often without adequate training, and are suffering the same consequences as their male counterparts — PTSD and depression. Indeed, statistics from the British Ministry of Defense suggest that female soldiers are affected at a far higher level than their male counterparts. And, by the same token, therapists are not necessarily trained to help women in combat situations where they are not "officially" supposed to be. The film, which airs on November 13th, is apparently not polemical — one of the soldiers profiled says she is very much for women in combat, provided they're trained — but makes the need for scrutiny of women's roles in modern warfare very clear.

Women Soldiers Suffering From More Mental Problems [Telegraph]
Battleground: Female Soldiers In The Line of Fire [New York Times]

• Obama responds to McCain's Britney-and-Paris ad: "is that the best you can come up with?" We're all kind of hoping so, actually. [ABC News]
• Meanwhile, McCain's camp is accusing Obama of playing the race card. I guess they really weren't paying attention during the primary season when Hillary tried that. [NY Times]
• He'd probably just rather you not know that Exxon Mobil's earnings last quarter were $11.68 billion, the largest quarterly earnings by a U.S. company ever — or that their share price fell upon that news because they were expected to be higher. Because if you knew, you might think that there was something hinky with his energy plan, or lack thereof. [HuffPo]
• Speaking of hinky, the House held hearings into the teeny-tiny sexual assault problem the military seems to have in Iraq, though they didn't touch specifically on LaVena Johnson. The link has a great video of a rant about how fucked that whole situation is; it totally gave me a ladyboner. [Crooks & Liars]

• Tim Russert's son is going to be doing convention coverage for NBC. I'm pretty sure that sounds kind of wrong to me. Oh, and why doesn't Rachel Maddow have a show yet? [AP]
• A California court has ruled that the evil early termination fees the cell phone companies are charging you aren't legal. Not that I have a contract, but I might get one now if it means I won't have to pay a fee the next time I'm feeling flighty. I mean, if I move to California, that is. [Yahoo News]
• A judge has ruled that the White House doesn't have the power to ignore subpoenas from Congress. Expect nothing else to happen for a while, wheels of justice moving slowly, etc. [NY Times]
• Cynthia McKinney says that if the Mainstream Media gave the Green Party more press they'd be the second-biggest party in the U.S.. I say: not with Cynthia's kind of anti-Semitic crazy at the helm, it wouldn't. [Washington Post]