Roger That: New report says Iran responsible for deaths of 500 American troops overseas

At least 500 U.S. military deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan have been directly linked to Iran and its support for anti-American militants, a newly disclosed statistic that offers grim context for the Obama administration’s diplomatic deal with the Iranian regime aimed at curtailing the rogue nation’s nuclear ambitions, according to Military Times.

That figure underscores the controversy surrounding Washington’s deal with Tehran, a long-sought goal for the president — but one that is fiercely opposed by many Republicans in Congress and other critics.

Many of those estimated 500 deaths occurred during the so-called surge in Iraq in 2006 and 2007, when President George W. Bush ordered an influx of tens of thousands of troops to confront what had devolved into a sectarian civil war. Scores of American personnel were killed or maimed by highly lethal bombs, known as explosively formed penetrators, or EFPs, that Iran manufactured and supplied to Shiite militias across the border in Iraq. Many EFPs were powerful enough to destroy U.S. humvees and breach tank hulls, the newspaper reported.

The Defense Department does not specifically track casualties linked to Iran. The 500 estimate is a ballpark figure based on intelligence assessments, according to a Pentagon official not named by Military Times.

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If you have post-traumatic stress or a blast-related traumatic brain injury, two research institutes want your brains, according to Military Times.

The Veterans Affairs Department's National Center for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder has launched the first brain tissue repository to study PTSD, following the Defense Department’s launch in late 2013 of its own brain bank for research.

The two facilities hope to enhance the scientific catalog of neuroscience, say officials with the departments.

Dr. Matthew Friedman, senior adviser to the VA center, said researchers can learn much by studying brain images, but there’s “no substitute for looking at the neurons themselves” when it comes to decoding the complex, mysterious body organ.

Understanding changes at the cellular and synaptic levels is critical to finding potential biological signs for developing PTSD and other mental health conditions, diagnosing disorders and treating them, Friedman said.

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Four U.S. F-16 warplanes landed in Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday, the first batch of a much-delayed delivery aimed at boosting the ailing Iraqi military’s capacity, the defense ministry said, according to a report in Defense News.

“Arrival of four F-16s at Balad Air Base,” read a flash on the ministry’s website, in an announcement also confirmed to AFP by the prime minister’s office.

Brett McGurk, U.S. President Barack Obama’s deputy envoy for the international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group, also confirmed the jets arrived.

“After years of preparation & training in the U.S., Iraqi pilots today landed the 1st squadron of Iraqi F16s in #Iraq,” he said on social media.

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A controversy has erupted in the Marine Corps over the recent firing of a female Marine officer who led the service’s only all-female recruit battalion amid complaints of a toxic leadership environment — but her defenders say she was only trying to make the unit better by holding women to tougher standards, according to the Marine Corps Times.

Lt. Col. Kate Germano, the former commanding officer of 4th Recruit Training Battalion at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, was found to be “hostile, unprofessional and abusive,” according to a command investigation obtained by Marine Corps Times. She was relieved for cause on June 30 by Brig. Gen. Terry Williams, Parris Island’s commanding general.

The officers who served with her say she was a blunt reformer who spearheaded efforts to improve recruit training regardless of gender, and that a vocal minority in the battalion undercut her achievements. Germano’s tactics, for example, dramatically improved range qualification rates for female recruits.

This story was originally published July 15, 2015 at 11:46 AM with the headline "Roger That: New report says Iran responsible for deaths of 500 American troops overseas."