Many details in yesterday's shootings at Fort Hood are still unsettled, but the the wake of the trauma military and private mental health groups are mobilizing their forces to make counselors available to not just individuals in Texas but to any soldiers and families affected by the tragedy.

Swords to Plowshares, a non-profit veterans support organization, warns that the event could trigger post-traumatic stress episodes, depression, substance abuse or suicidal tendencies among soldiers and veterans. Along with services at local veterans centers, there are a host of hotlines available to individuals nationwide: 

Back in the 2004 presidential election nearly one in four ballots cast by troops serving overseas were invalidated because of paperwork errors, missed deadlines or other administrative snafus.

So it's good news to hear today from the U.S. Election Assistance Program that nearly 96 percent of the overseas military votes cast in the 2008 contest were counted, thanks to better systems and changes in states' election laws.

The report to Congress notes that voter participation overseas was significantly higher in 2008 than 2006 (not a surprise, since midterm elections generally attract smaller crowds) but that both the percentage of ballots returned by military voters (67 percent) and the percent counted increased.

Army Maj. Gen. Michael L. Oates, former commander of the 10th Mountain Division, has been nominated to receive a third star and take over as head of the Joint IED Defeat Organization.

If confirmed by the Senate, Oates would replace Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz, who is slated to retire on Nov. 13.

Oates is coming to the job as IED attacks in Afghanistan are up compared with last year.

The Defense Department is shipping MRAP-All Terrain Vehicles to Afghanistan to provide troops protection against IEDs and allow them to go off road, but the insurgents in Afghanistan are also using bigger and bigger bombs.

Recently, insurgents used a 1,000-pound bomb made from fertilizer against a Stryker in southern Afghanistan, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said on Wednesday.

The new Congressional Military Family Caucus held its first public event on Wednesday, promising to bring new attention to topics like the effect of multiple deployments on children, education and child care on military bases, and employment opportunities for military spouses.

A military-themed caucus on Capitol Hill is hardly news: Of the 235 official caucuses listed by Congress earlier this year, more than a dozen already have military themes (like the House Naval Mine Warfare Caucus), and that doesn't include the Afghanistan caucus or the Out-of-Iraq caucus.

But the new group does reflect the growing focus on the role that military families play in recruiting and retention in today's military.

The Post 9/11 GI Bill starts from the assumption that all veterans want a university education, but VA Secretary Eric Shinseki hinted yesterday that could change.

He acknowledged the bill is lacking without a "robust vocational training program. Not every young veteran wants to spend four years pursuing a college degree."

Then, speaking off the cuff of his prepared remarks, he added: "And we should accept that."

Many veteran advocates weren't pleased that vocational training benefits had been dropped from the new GI Bill when they were such an integral part of the first incarnation.

If a veteran learned to weld doing tank maintenance, say, and he wanted to be a welder in the civilian world, he's own his own for the certification. The new GI Bill doesn't provide for that. Same thing for medics, military police and others whose interests are vocation and not in getting a bachelor's degree.

A retired Army general told me earlier this year that many leaders in the veteran community are hoping Congress will reconcile the two GI Bills, so vets don't have to give up the benefits of the new bill to utilize the vocational benefits of the old.

As Shinseki said, veterans "might be interested in learning a trade that would get them into the taxpaying workforce sooner."

The Defense Department will start sending M-ATVs to Afghanistan by ship “sometime after the first of the year,” said Cynthia Bauer, of U.S. Transportation Command.

Until then, the vehicles will be flown into Afghanistan, limiting how many can be sent.

M-ATVs are 25,000-pound versions of MRAPs that are designed to go off road. They were designed specifically for Afghanistan, which doesn’t have a well developed road network. As of Tuesday, 41 M-ATVs had been flown to Afghanistan, said Defense Department spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin.

The Defense Department has received about 700 vehicles so far, of which 400 were delivered in October, said Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Michael Brogan, who oversees the M-ATV acquisition program.

Frequent moves and the headaches that accompany them are nothing new to military families. There's packing, unpacking, repacking, new schools, new neighbors, new jobs ...

One thing troops haven't had to worry about with the reassignments is getting new driver's licenses, or registering to vote in a new state; Under federal law, servicemembers can claim residency in their home state no matter how many times their service moves them around.

But for spouses it's a different story. A cross-country move from an East Coast base to a West Coast assignment means troops' wives or husbands need to change their residency, and leaves them with a different state to vote in and file taxes to than their military partner.

On Monday Congress voted to change that, passing the Military Spouse Residency Relief Act which allows those spouses to retain the same state residency as their servicemember.

The Pentagon has amended its policy regarding media coverage of the flag-draped coffins of dead U.S. service members returning to Dover AFB. Families now have the power to permit military cameras to record the event and ban independent news media from doing the same.

But why?

The base policy remains: families are asked by military officials before the U.S. arrival of their deceased relative if they will allow media coverage of the “dignified transfer” (Don’t call it a ceremony.) of “transfer cases” (Don’t call them coffins.) arriving from the Overseas Contingency Operation (Don’t call it the war in Afghanistan.)

Previously, if the family said "no" - nothing was recorded by anyone.  If they said “yes”, the event was recorded by independent media, usually a single AP photographer, as well as Defense Department video and still cameras.

Now, families can ask for Pentagon photographers, but reject the media presence, effectively banning public from seeing images of the event until a later time, which seems a reversion against the Pentagon's pledge of greater media transparency.