The soldier wakes at 6 a.m. after getting only three or four hours of sleep. He showers, shaves, and puts on his uniform by 7 a.m., even as his head pounds from a traumatic brain injury. Sometimes, while walking to a mandatory daily roll call, the piece of shrapnel still lodged in his back catches […]
Leah Rosenbaum
Leah Rosenbaum is an investigative reporter at The War Horse. She has spent five years as a health reporter and editor in national newsrooms, including Forbes and Business Insider. Her work has also been featured in Science News, STAT News, Harvard Public Health News, and other publications. She has a master’s of public health and a master’s of journalism from UC Berkeley. She can be reached at leah.rosenbaum@thewarhorse.org, via Proton Mail at leah.rosenbaum@proton.me, and via Signal at leahrosenbaum.01
Posted inNewsroom
Shrapnel, Broken Bones, and Head Trauma: New Records Show How U.S. Troops Were Wounded in Iran War
The United States recorded at least 17 life-threatening casualties during the first phase of the war with Iran, according to newly obtained Defense Department records that provide the most detailed accounting yet of troops wounded in the conflict. More than 400 casualties were recorded between Feb. 28 and April 8, with Army personnel accounting for […]
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Trump Promised Redemption for Troops Who Refused Covid Shots. A Year Later, Many Are Still Waiting
When the COVID-19 vaccine was released in 2020, Daniel Pendergast was intrigued. “I honestly thought it sounded kind of ingenious at first,” he said. But then he learned there was a very small chance of heart inflammation that could occur after vaccination in healthy men like himself: around eight cases per million, according to the […]
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Veterans With Gulf War Illness Were Finally Seeing Progress. Then Congress Cut Funding
It’s easy for Ron Brown to remember when his health problems first began. It was early March 1991, and Brown’s Army unit was in Khamisiyah, where Iraqi forces had been storing chemical weapons in a bunker and an excavated area known as “the pit.” As U.S. forces demolished the bunker and the weapons in the […]
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Hiring, Overtime, and AI: VA Is Processing Veterans’ Disability Claims Faster Than Ever
Not too many Vietnam veterans are using ChatGPT. “I may be a little more technical than other 80-year-olds,” said Chip, a Marine Corps Vietnam vet and former software developer who used artificial intelligence last year for help filing a disability claim with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Chip plugged his symptoms for Agent Orange-related cancer […]
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‘I Felt Like a Factory Worker.’ Why VA Psychologists Are Burning Out
Each year, the Department of Veterans Affairs’ internal watchdog sends a survey to all 139 of the agency’s medical centers coast to coast with a straightforward question: Which jobs have severe staffing shortages? In fiscal year 2025, the responses raised alarm: VA health care facilities reported more than 4,400 severe staffing shortages—a 50% hike from […]
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‘I Feel Lost.’ Anxiety Grows Among Veterans Cut off From VA One-on-One Therapy
Veterans told The War Horse that therapy session limits are damaging their mental health. VA says it works with veterans to create care plans.
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VA Warned These Companies They May Be Breaking the Law. Most Are Still in Business
Companies that help veterans file their disability benefits received warning letters from Veterans Affairs that claimed they may be acting illegally.
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‘We Need to Terminate Treatment’: VA Mental Health Providers Say They Are Under Pressure to Limit Care
Veterans Affairs mental health providers say they are being pressured to curtail therapy sessions for veterans. VA says they following evidence-based best practices.
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Exodus at VA: 10,000 Employees Are Resigning in September. Here’s the List
Over 10,000 employees will leave the VA in September after taking a deferred resignation. Nurse and doctors quit too. See the full list of positions.
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Is the US Weapons Stockpile Depleted By the War In Ukraine?
Pentagon paused weapons shipments to Ukraine, citing a depleted stockpile. One expert talks about the current state of U.S. weapons.
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Thousands of LGBTQ+ Veterans Were Supposed to Get Pardons. A Year Later, Only Four Have Succeeded
Thousands of veterans separated from the military due their sexuality qualified for pardons under Biden, only four got one.
