Found below are a few news items that caught my attention this past week. I am hopeful that the titles and short commentary will encourage our readers to click on the embedded links to read more on subjects that may be of interest to them.

Drop me an email at info@sftt.org if you believe that there are other subjects that are newsworthy.

Should Women Register for the Draft?
Two of the U.S. military service chiefs believe women should now be required to register for the draft after the Defense Department opened up all combat jobs to women.   Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley agreed that the current policy, which requires only males register for the Selective Service System, should be changed after restrictions that barred women from trying out for combat jobs were lifted last year.   Read more . . .

Mindfulness Training for Veterans with PTSD
Like an endlessly repeating video loop, horrible memories plague people with post-traumatic stress disorder. But a new study in veterans shows the promise of mindfulness training for enhancing the ability to manage those thoughts if they come up, and not get ‘stuck’. It also shows the veterans’ brains changed in ways that may help them find their own off switch for that endless loop.   Read more . . .

Reforming the VA:  What do you think?
As the congressionally mandated Commission on Care moves closer to issuing its recommendations for VA reform, due in June, DAV has launched a nationwide campaign to set the record straight about some of the bad proposals that have emerged for changing veterans health care.
Specifically, some politicians, political and veterans groups have supported five changes to the VA health care system that may look good on the surface but could actually harm veterans in the long term: limiting the VA’s full-service health system to only a few “Centers of Excellence” focusing on things like post-traumatic stress disorder, burns and amputations; restricting the VA to treating only combat or service-related injuries; turning the VA health care system into merely an insurance company; letting the money follow the veteran using health care cards or vouchers; and privatizing the VA health care system.  Read more . . .

Home Schooling for Military Dependents?
Military families in the US frequently have to contend with relocating from time to time because of deployments. One of the most pressing concerns of frequently moving around is the constant disturbance in children’s educations. In recent years, military families are turning to home schooling for its schedule flexibility. However, there may be more to it than just convenience that parents need to be prepared for.  Read more . . .

36 Questions Which Lead Leaders
Leadership is not about having the right answers, it is the ability to ask the correct questions. It is a compilation of lived and learned experiences, the experiential education which bounds your way of thinking and does not define a rulebook.  Read more . . .

West Point and American Exceptionalism
There was a lot of fuss a few years ago when President Obama said he believed in American exceptionalism, just as he was sure “the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.” But for all the fuss, the president’s remarks were symptomatic of a broader dissonance in our society about America’s role in the world.
Consider American presidential politics today. On the right, we see an impulse among some candidates to close our doors and leave the world to fend for itself. On the left, we see an appeal by some to utopian notions of what America is or should be that will end where all utopian notions end. This has happened before. It is what happens when faith in America and its mission in the world begins to wane.   Read more . . .

Chime in if you have a subject you would like to appear on SFTT’s news summary!