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The Navy reported a record number of suicides in the first quarter of 2024, again drawing attention to the myriad issues revealed about the quality of life for sailors and the service's ability to prevent such deaths. According to recently released Pentagon data on suicide across all the services, the Navy reported 24 suicides among its sailors for the first three months of 2024. That is the highest-ever quarterly figure for the service going back to 2018, when data first started being released. (Toropin, 7/10)

Veterans with combat-related injuries rallied near the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to finally act on a long-stalled proposal to allow all veterans full access to military retirement pay and Department of Veterans Affairs disability benefits. Despite wide bipartisan backing, the Major Richard Star Act has languished for years, increasingly frustrating the veterans who are losing thousands of dollars in benefits that could help them support themselves and their families. (Kheel, 7/10)

Parents of young officers in training and incoming recruits who died in connection with military activities want Congress to approve death benefits that others in the armed forces already receive. “It’s just been an absolute nightmare. There’s no aspect of our lives that are the same,” said Jessica Swan. Swan’s daughter, Mackenzie Wilson, 19, a student at Oregon State University and an Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps cadet, died in a vehicle accident in June 2022, while at an Air Force base in Idaho for a development program. (Lehrfeld, 7/10)

The mother of a then-Fort Bragg soldier found dead in his barracks room in January 2020 hopes service members will check on each other to prevent future deaths like her son’s. Pvt. 2nd Class Caleb Smither’s mother, Heather Baker, spoke to The Fayetteville Observer last June about her visit to Washington, D.C., to make members of Congress and Army leaders aware of her son’s death and make changes so missteps don’t happen again. Smither, 19, was found dead in his room at Fort Bragg, now known as Fort Liberty, on Jan. 22, 2020, seven weeks after being assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division and five days after he was given an order to rest after striking his head in the motor pool earlier in the month. Months after his death, doctors concluded that Smither’s cause of death was bacterial meningitis. ((Riley, 7/10)