On Tuesday night, President Barack Obama addressed America and made the following announcement: “Tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended.”

The Washington Post shared what the President had to say in a feature. One of the things that he mentioned was that he was staying true to a pledge that he made while campaigning for office: that he will put an end to the war that he had opposed at the outset. The President said that he believed “that out of the ashes of war, a new beginning could be born in this cradle of civilization.”

With the war in Iraq winding down, President Obama also talked about the next things on his list of priorities: shifting resources to the war in Afghanistan, as well as giving the economy a boost.

He also noted that he was, at that moment, sitting behind the same desk where the announcement of the war was done by then President George W. Bush seven years ago. He then said that a lot has “changed since that night.”

The President said: “It’s well known that he and I disagreed about the war from its outset. Yet no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security… The greatness of our democracy is grounded in our ability to move beyond our differences, and to learn from our experience as we confront the many challenges ahead. And no challenge is more essential to our security than our fight against al-Qaeda.”

An estimated 1.5 million troops served in Iraq during the course of the war, many of them serving for multiple tours. The war claimed the lives of more than 4,400 troops, with 32,000 injured.

As the year progresses, Navy Week continues to make its way across America, and this week, the Navy is in Cleveland, Ohio!

A feature on the Navy Website shared that Navy Week Cleveland was kicked off by a performance by the U.S. Navy Fleet Forces Band “Four-Star Edition” at John Marshall High School on Monday, August 30.

Navy Week Cleveland coincides with the Cleveland National Airshow. It started on August 30 and will last until September 6.

John Marshall High School is the Navy Fleet Forces Band’s first of 10 different venues where they are scheduled to perform for the duration of Navy Week. Navy Week Cleveland will also include quite a few staples from previous Navy Week observances in other cities: a performance by the Blue Angels, appearances by Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) divers, and Interactive Navy Experience simulators.

Serving as leading spokespeople for Navy Week Cleveland are Rear Admiral Julius S. Caesar, the Vice Director of the Joint Concept Development and Experimentation (J9), U.S. Joint Forces Command, and Rear Admiral Wendi B. Carpenter, Commander for the Navy Warfare Development Command, Norfolk. Sailors from the host city and state’s namesakes, the USS Cleveland (LPD) and the USS Ohio (SSGN), will also be participating in various events during Navy Week.

On Thursday, September 2, Rear Admiral Carpenter will be addressing the Girl Scouts of America at the International Women’s Air and Space Museum at 7 in the evening. Rear Admiral Carpenter will also be speaking at the Flying Things Exploration Station at the Cuyahoga County Public Library in Warrensville, Ohio, on Friday, September 3.

Before the United States formally ends its combat operations in Iraq, President Barack Obama paid more than two dozen wounded soldiers a visit at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. On Tuesday, the President paid a visit to Fort Bliss, Texas, where he will expressed gratitude to soldiers for their service in Iraq, before returning to Washington, to speak before the nation from the Oval Office.

At Walter Reed, the President met with two dozen service members who served in Afghanistan, and five who served in Iraq. Eleven service members received the Purple Heart from the President, a military decoration that is accorded to soldiers who are injured or killed while in the service.

The Vice-President of the United States is in Iraq to, among other things, mark the formal end of U.C. combat operations in the country.

He is set to preside over a military change-of-command ceremony scheduled on Wednesday, which will mark the beginning of “Operation New Dawn.”

Before the ceremony, Vice President Joe Biden spoke with top leaders in Iraq. The meeting sought to resume talks regarding the formation of a new government, which have been kept hanging. Parliamentary elections conducted last March 7 were inconclusive, a situation that insurgents are taking advantage of.

The Vice-President gave these words of reassurance, directed towards Iraqis, with regards to the transition: “We’re going to be just fine. They’re going to be just fine.”

It is a fact that we have shared quite a number of times; veterans come home with memories of the horrors of war, memories that some of them cannot simply turn off at will. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disease that many veterans suffer from, with symptoms that include insomnia, nightmares, and restlessness.

A feature by The Associated Press shared the stories of some of these veterans – along with the medication that they all shared. Seroquel is a psychiatric drug that is being prescribed to the thousands of soldiers who come home suffering from PTSD. According to the AP post, Seroquel is one of the top drug expenditures of the Veteran Affairs Department. Prescriptions for soldiers may have also catapulted Seroquel as the 5th best-selling drug in the United States.

One of the stories shared was that of 23-year-old Marine Corporal Andrew White, who came home from a tour in Iraq with symptoms of PTSD. Doctors prescribed three psychiatric drugs to him, including Seroquel. Over time, White’s nightmares persisted, so the doses of Seroquel were increased, until it reached 1,600 mg per day, a dose that is more than double the maximum dose recommended from patients suffering from schizophrenia.

White’s father Stan shared: “He was told if he had trouble sleeping he could take another (Seroquel) pill.” Eventually, Andrew fell asleep – and never woke up.

While the relationship between the deaths and Seroquel is unclear, military families are concerned about the fact that several soldiers taking the drug have died while on Seroquel, and they are asking Congress to launch an investigation.

One of the few remaining living Medal of Honor recipients is retired Navy Captain Thomas Gunning Kelley. He and his wife, Joan, recently paid a visit to the Sailors of the U.S. 6th Fleet headquarters on Naval Support Activity in Naples, while on a holiday in Italy, as shared in a feature on the Navy Times.

Kelley and the Sailors talked about various topics, including post-traumatic stress and notable moments in their careers. Inevitably, the conversation turned to the event that earned Kelley the Medal of Honor.

Thomas Gunning Kelley was born on May 13, 1939 in Boston, Massachusetts. He finished high school at the Boston College High School in 1956, and proceeded to study at the College of the Holy Cross, graduating in 1960. He enlisted into the service in 1960.

On June 15, 1969, then Lt. Kelley served as the commander of the River Assault Division 152, tasked with the extraction of a company of U.S. Army Infantry Troops on the east bank of the Ong Muong Canal in Kien Hoa province in Vietnam. His Medal of Honor citation recounts how one of the armored troop carriers, which had just reported a loading ramp malfunction, came under fire from Viet Cong forces from the opposite bank of the canal.

Kelley shared: “My first thought was ‘Not me, this isn’t happening to me… But, then I gathered myself, trying to ignore my injuries, and did what I had to make sure that all of our craft got out of the canal.”

Kelley suffered serious head wounds as a result of an enemy rocket hit; despite his injuries, Kelley continued to direct other boats until they were able to move to safety. He eventually lost his right eye.

Capt. Thomas Kelley was awarded the Medal of Honor on May 14, 1970.