GOING THE EXTRA MILE
The Army does what it can to keep the soldiers safe...before and after returning home.

With only weeks before thousands of war-weary American soldiers return home, the U.S. military is reminding them to stay focused on Iraq's lingering threats while preparing them for reintegration with their families and communities.

Recognizing the anxieties facing soldiers wanting to return to their loved ones, military commanders have been drilling their forces to keep concentrated on their daily missions in order to prevent any casualties occurring so late into their year-long deployments.

At the same time, many soldiers are facing difficulties of a different kind on the home front, from relationship dramas to financial woes, realities that the military is also trying to counter by sitting soldiers down to compulsory briefings on how to acclimatize to their home environments after spending the past year in a war zone.

Recognizing that the hardships of war, anxieties about their return home and an inability to readjust into American society can be a deadly mixture, the military has embarked on an awareness offensive to keep troops' minds focussed.