Military Personnel

TRIPOLI, Libya - Britain is sending as many as 20 military advisers to help Libya's ragtag rebel force break a military stalemate with Moammar Gadhafi's army, as NATO acknowledges that airstrikes alone cannot stop the daily shelling of the besieged opposition-held city of Misrata. Gadhafi's troops have been pounding Misrata indiscriminately with mortars and rockets, a NATO general said yesterday, and residents reported more explosions and firefights in Libya's third-largest city. Hospitals are overflowing, and 120 patients need to be evacuated from the city that has been under siege for nearly two months, the World Health Organization said.

DEAR ABBY: Large numbers of veterans are returning home with a wide range of psychological difficulties, many struggling with severe physical injuries or traumatic brain injuries. One in 10 soldiers reports mental health problems, while 30 percent of U.S. troops develop serious mental health problems within three to four months of coming home. Post-traumatic stress is a natural human reaction to horrific experiences. The symptoms of PTSD are greatly reduced if appropriate treatment is provided quickly to those in need.

At 4:30 a.m. Friday, April 12, 1861, a 67-year-old farm newspaper editor from Virginia, Edmund Ruffin, is said to have been given the honor of firing the first shot of the Civil War, aimed at the Union's Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, S.C. By the time the last Confederate commander surrendered in 1865, more than 620,000 American combatants, North and South, had been wounded or died from their injuries or from other indignities, among...

Seven military aircraft powered up their engines and taxied slowly along the runway, as if hesitant to leave the ground. Yet one by one, the hulking C-130 turboprop, the nimble A-10 Thunderbolt, and an assortment of other helicopters and jet fighters took off - hurtling down the 8,000-foot stretch of pavement for what would ultimately be a one-way trip. "Willow Grove, thanks for the 68 years of dedicated service," a radio trafficker's voice squawked as the last plane disappeared into a gray afternoon sky. Then, the runway lights went dark.

RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina is losing out on a congressional seat and future tax dollars because so many of its military personnel were deployed during the U.S. Census and counted in population totals for other states, according to an Associated Press review. The census counts most troops at the base where they live and work. But for personnel who are deployed overseas, the government tallies them for their home state - often where the service member grew up or has family. For example, a soldier based at Fort Bragg in North Carolina could list his or her home as being in Oklahoma because that's where he or she was raised.

A Navy SEAL from Toms River who was killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan last month has been awarded the Bronze Star posthumously. The Navy says the parents of Special Warfare Operator 3rd Class Denis C. Miranda, 24, received the medal at a ceremony Wednesday at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story in Virginia. Capt. Tim Szymanski, commodore of Navy Special Warfare Group 2, also presented Bronze Star to the families of three other SEALs killed in the Sept. 21. crash.

The first thing Tatiana Simpson did after her boyfriend proposed to her in a phone call from Iraq was to log on to Facebook. "Right after it happened, I posted. I had to tell them," Simpson, 17, of Sewell, said of her social-networking friends. Simpson says the Facebook page Army Girlfriends: For All the Girls Waiting Back Home is her favorite among the forums she uses to connect with others who are dating members of the military. Simpson, who doesn't know anyone locally who is dating a service member, relies on the site for advice.

Rolling the dice on what most courtroom observers consider a legal long shot, lawyers for the Fort Dix Five filed a multipronged appeal Tuesday seeking to have the convictions of the jailed suburban terrorists overturned. The 149-page legal brief, citing many of the same arguments that were rejected by the trial judge in the case, was submitted as nearly two dozen family members and supporters of the defendants staged a noontime rally outside the federal courthouse at Sixth and Market Streets in Philadelphia, where the Third Circuit Court of Appeals is based.

A huge event will occur Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial that has received little mention by the media. The Restoring Honor Rally is a celebration of our country, its founding principles, traditions, faith, and our military personnel and their families. I presume that this isn't being reported because the event is being put on by Glenn Beck. Maybe to make it more newsworthy, the media should be made aware that the New Black Panther Party has threatened to disrupt the event. Further, the Rev. Al Sharpton has accused Beck of trying to co-opt the day, which is the anniversary of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

Gov. Christie returned to Haddon Heights on Monday to sign a package of legislation intended to honor active-duty and veteran military personnel. Christie signed three bills in an afternoon ceremony at the Honor Roll Memorial at Haddon Lake Park in the borough where he opened his campaign to become governor. A fourth measure, which he previously signed, renames a portion of Route 47 in Glassboro the South Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Highway. "Our state's servicemen, servicewomen, and their families have bravely and selflessly sacrificed in defense of our nation and our values," Christie said Monday in a written statement.