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 SFTT readers to click on the embedded links to read more on subjects that may be of interest to them.

Drop me an email at [email protected] if you believe that there are other subjects that are newsworthy.

Moscow Planning to Re-Establish Military Bases in Cuba and Vietnam?
Moscow is considering plans to return to Cuba and Vietnam where it had military bases in the past, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Nikolay Pankov said on Friday, according to RIA news agency.  Read more . . .

Dozens of Afghan Troops Missing from Military Training
Pentagon officials say 45 Afghan troops visiting the U.S. for military training have gone missing from their assignments in less than two years, presumably in an effort to live and work illegally in America.  In one case, an Afghan student was detained by Canadian police while trying to enter that country from the U.S. In some cases, officials said, those who went missing were in the U.S. for elite Army Ranger School and intelligence-gathering training. Defense officials did not identify the missing troops or their rank.  Read more . . .

Philippines’ Defense Minister Asserts Military Can Cope without US Aid
U.S.-Philippines ties are going through “bumps on the road” and the Philippine military could manage if treaty ally the United States were to withdraw aid, the defense minister said on Friday.  Lorenzana’s remarks suggested he was following other top officials in Duterte’s administration in rallying behind the maverick president’s tough anti-U.S. agenda after weeks of scrambling to manage the fallout from his outbursts and threats to downgrade the alliance.  Read more . . .

Post 9/11 Veteran Unemployment Down Again in September
Unemployment for the latest generation of veterans ticked down again in September, continuing to hover near record-low territory, according to new government data.  Just 4.4 percent of post-9/11 veterans looking for work were unable to find any in September, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That beats the previous month’s 4.7 percent rate, as well as the September 2015 rate of 5 percent.  Read more . . .

Antipsychotics Gaining Attention for Certain PTSD Symptoms
The only medications approved for PTSD by the Food and Drug Administration are paroxetine (Paxil) and sertraline (Zoloft). Unfortunately, these medications provide limited benefits for many. In fact, some studies show that they are minimally or no better than a placebo (often referred to as a “sugar pill”).  One group of medications that has garnered attention over the past several years is antipsychotics. Although the joint PTSD guidelines of the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments don’t recommend the use of antipsychotics as a main treatment, the reality is that they are often used.  Read more . . .

What Options are Left for Syria?
Nearly six years of civil war capped with one of the most devastating weeks in Syria after the dissolution of a short-lived ceasefire and the possible fall of Aleppo has left the U.S. and global leaders at a crossroads of how to address the seemingly never-ending conflict.  “The options are to pull the plug on this phony diplomatic process, continue to make the defeat of the Islamic State a priority, or consider putting new cards on the table, and that would be some sort of military action,” said Aaron David Miller, vice president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  Read more . . .

Laser Weapons Get Real
On the desert floor, on top of a big, sand-coloured truck, a cubic mechanism pivots and fires an invisible infrared beam to zap one target after another. This High Energy Laser Mobile Demonstrator (HEL MD) is a prototype laser weapon developed for the US Army by aerospace giant Boeing of Chicago, Illinois. Inside the truck, Boeing electrophysics engineer Stephanie Blount stares at the targets on her laptop’s screen and directs the laser using a handheld game controller. “It has a very game-like feel,” she says.  Read more . . .

Congressional Leaders Clash over Crisis Center Legislation
U.S. Rep. David Young and congressional Republicans are blaming Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid for holding up final passage of a bill that would make needed changes to a suicide hotline for veterans. Reid’s office is strongly pushing back, claiming it was Senate Republicans who stalled the “No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act.”  Read more . . .

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