Pauline Jelinek

In a service-wide "stand down," the Army has ordered soldiers to put aside their usual duties Thursday and spend the day on suicide prevention training as the military struggles with a spike in the number of self-inflicted deaths this year.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Friday thanked gay and lesbian military members for their service as the Pentagon prepares to mark June as gay pride month with an official salute.

Army investigators said Monday they found no bullet wound nor evidence of foul play in the death of a soldier in Afghanistan who died during a Skype video chat with his wife.

Pentagon leaders scrambled today to contain damage from an Internet video purporting to show four Marines urinating on Taliban corpses — an act that appears to violate international laws of warfare and further strains U.S.-Afghan relations.