FederalDaily - November 15, 2007
Troops Report Additional Stress in Follow-Up Surveys
Combat veterans who completed post-deployment health reassessment surveys months after their return
home reported an increasing tide of mental health issues compared to how they felt when they first
landed back on U.S. soil. A new Army medical study, published in the Nov. 14 issue of The Journal
of the American Medical Association, reports on the results from 88,235 post-Operation Iraqi Freedom
troops. It shows that one out of five active-duty Army soldiers and more than 40 percent of Army reservists
eventually need treatment, according to the study by Army researchers. It is the first attempt to scientifically
quantify the psychological struggles of soldiers who have faced combat in Iraq, through both an initial
survey and a follow-up survey after the soldiers have been home for a while. Notably, soldiers were
far more likely to report mental health problems in a screening three to six months after returning
from Iraq, than at the time of a post-deployment screening done immediately upon returning home, the
report said. “We understand deployments place stress on our soldiers,” said Brig. Gen.
Stephen L. Jones, assistant surgeon general for Force Protection, Army Medical Command. “This
is about reducing stigma and breaking down barriers to getting care, and it’s working.” To
see more, go to: www.army.mil/-news/2007/11/13/6083-mental-health-needs-of-soldiers-returning-from-iraq-identified-through-two-army-medical-surveys;
or for an abstract of the article, go to: http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/298/18/2141.
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Women/Minorities Underrepresented in SES Legislative Agencies
Women and minorities are underrepresented in the Senior Executive Service (SES) at six major legislative
branch agencies reviewed by congressional investigators. In some cases, minority/women fill just a
fraction of the SES positions, compared to the agency work force as a whole, said a congressional report
released Nov. 13. In a report done by Oversight and Government Reform Federal Workforce Subcommittee
staff, investigators looked racial and gender diversity of the SES corps in six legislative branch
agencies. They were the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Library of Congress (LOC), the
Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Government Printing Office (GPO), the Capitol Police, and the
Architect of the Capitol (AOC). Overall, the SES at each agency was less diverse in terms of minorities
than its work force as a whole in FY 2007 and was less diverse in terms of women in four of the six
agencies. In some agencies, the representation of minorities and women in the SES was tiny. For example,
minorities comprised less than 8 percent of the SES at CBO, and women represented less than 19 percent
of the agency’s SES staff. Four agencies (CBO, GPO, AOC and the Capitol Police) had no Asian
SES officials. To see more, go to: http://federalworkforce.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1617
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USAJOBS Generates Record Web Traffic
The Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) USAJOBS Web site generated a record 94,324,604 visitors
last fiscal year, resulting in more than 1 billion page hits, OPM said in a Nov. 13 statement. Since
the beginning of this fiscal year on Oct. 1, USAJOBS received another record 10,000,000 visitors per
month, as well as an average 124,000,000 monthly page hits, said OPM Director Linda Springer. Should
that trend continue, FY 2008 could be another record year, Springer said. To see more, go to: www.opm.gov/news/opms-usajobs-continues-to-attract-large-numbers-of-job-seekers-who-want-to-work-for-their-country,1336.aspx
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