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Soldier-perpetrated sex crimes are under-reported, but the Defense Department estimates about 19,000 assaults occurred last year. Veterans who are victims of sexual assault recently convened for the first-ever summit on military sexual violence.

New York City's Memorial Day observances included both parades and solemn ceremonies. And with sunny skies and temperatures reaching the mid-80s, thousands of people spent their Memorial Day holiday at New York's parks and beaches.

Of the 1.6 million veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly half are applying for disability benefits. New numbers show that 45 percent of vets are claiming service-related psychological and physical injuries. That's far more than ever before. So why now? Greg Jacob is a combat veteran and the policy director for Service Women's Action Network.

For many New Yorkers, yoga is more than exercise — it's a tool to relieve stress. That's what one yoga instructor had in mind when she started a class for military veterans.

Just as our views of war in general have changed, so has our relationship with our soldiers and our veterans. James Wright is a former marine, the former president of Dartmouth College, and the author of “Those Who Have Borne The Battle: A History of America’s Wars and Those Who Fought Them.”

The American Psychiatric Association, the organization that writes the Diagnostic Statistical Manual and decides what counts as a mental illness, is meeting this week in Philadelphia. The agenda includes several military-related discussions, including whether or not to drop "disorder" from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Some advocate leaving the name as simply PTS — an acronym the military has already started to use — and others suggest a change to PTSI, with the "I" standing for "injury." Still others suggest no change at all.

The unemployment rate for newer veterans stands at 10.3 percent, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But for some, the job skills they gained in the military are translating into civilian jobs back home.  

The Department of Veteran Affairs says that 95 percent of patients seeking mental health care are evaluated with two weeks. A new report from the VA Inspector General, however, suggests those claims are vastly overstated — and less than half of patients are seen that quickly. The rest wait, on average, more than a month and a half. Former soldier Jacob Manning experienced the VA's limitations first-hand in January. After he unsuccessfully tried to kill himself, a friend convinced Manning to call a local VA clinic for help. He was told, to call back the next day because the clinic was about to close. Veteran Scott Swaim is the Director of Veteran Services at Valley Cities Counseling, has worked with many troubled former soldiers. He’s also a contractor for the Washington Department of Veterans Affairs’ War Trauma and PTSD Program.

Recent vets are confronting life back home, as combat missions in Iraq have wrapped up. Some of them are choosing to use their war-time experiences to help other vets who're having a harder time making the transition back to civilian life.

Michelle Obama has been everywhere from a West Point mess hall to a NASCAR speedway in the past year to drum up support for military families through her "joining forces" campaign. On Wednesday, she marked the program's one-year anniversary by taking stock of what's been done and challenging Americans to do even more.

Council Speaker Christine Quinn and other elected officials announced forthcoming legislation to reform the Veterans Property Tax Exemption on Wednesday.

Under the state’s new budget plan, four New York counties — Suffolk, Saratoga, Jefferson, and Rensselaer — are set to receive $200,000 each, to launch a pilot peer support program to help veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury.

Schools are enrolling hundreds of thousands of recent veterans and servicemembers due to the drawdown in Iraq and Post 9/11 GI Bill. But the education benefit is not helping all of them make the transition from military life to getting a college degree. Learn more and watch video of veterans featured in this story here.

More than 1,300 veterans attended a special hiring fair on the USS Intrepid Wednesday as part of a weeklong nationwide effort to get veterans back into the workforce.

As a complete U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan approaches, certain questions are receiving more attention. What challenges do our veterans face when they come home? And what are we doing to help or hurt their chances of integrating fully into civilian life?

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama paid tribute to U.S. military members who served in Iraq by hosting a dinner Wednesday night. As the president explained, it was an opportunity “to express those simple words that we can never say enough: thank you.”

A Marine colonel from New York will be representing the state during a dinner at the White House Wednesday night to mark the end of the war in Iraq by recognizing the men and women in uniform who served in Iraq.

The nation’s unemployment rate has been steadily declining since last summer – dropping in January to 8.3 percent. But U.S. service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are facing higher unemployment rates than the general public. But Wall Street is trying to do its part by helping to prepare recent veterans for a career in the financial industry.

Elected officials and veterans groups are renewing their calls for a parade for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, in light of Tuesday's planned Superbowl victory parade for the New York Giants.

Poverty and homelessness disproportionately effects those who have served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and National Guard. While the reasons are diverse — the lack of perceived skills by civilian employers, physical and psychological injuries sustained during service, a sluggish economy — the reality is undeniable: veterans make up only ten percent of the population, yet seven percent of veterans live in poverty and one in five are homeless. Of those that have served, the group hardest hit have been National Guard veterans.