Seven years after Congress banned payday-loan companies from charging exorbitant interest rates to service members, many of the nation's military bases are surrounded by storefront lenders who charge high annual percentage rates, sometimes exceeding 400 percent.

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Moreover, it turns out the Air Force lieutenant colonel in charge of preventing sexual assault has been arrested for  … sexual assault. According to the police report, a drunken Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski allegedly approached a woman in a parking lot in Arlington, Va. Sunday night, and grabbed her breasts and buttocks.

Why has it been so difficult for the Air Force or the Defense Department to remedy this problem?

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The report comes only days after Lt. Col. Jeff Krusinski, chief of the Air Force Sexual Assault Prevention and Response branch at the Pentagon, was arrested and charged with sexual battery in Virginia, an incident that has, once again, brought a military culture plagued by rampant sexual violence and failures of accountability from military leadership into stark relief.

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The sobering prevalence of sexual assault in the armed services and the failures of military leadership to hold responsible parties accountable (only 10 percent of sexual assaults reported in 2011 went to trial) have created a military culture that is increasingly dangerous for female service members.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) has offered two Senate proposals to begin the process of reform in American military culture. The first measure, introduced last week, will provide increased access to reproductive health care to female service members. The second, set to be introduced next month, intends to reform the way the military handles sexual assault cases.

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Two months ago my brothers and I reconnected with our 17-year-old half-brother via Facebook.  None of us have seen him since he was a little baby.

He's in high school in Idaho and he plans on going into the military and then to be a police officer after that. Recent FB posts of his scare THE CRAP OUT OF ME. He's started posting pictures of drawings he's done of people and animals with bloody eye sockets. Drawings of children with bloody stumps and eye sockets. Pictures of himself holding a shotgun and an assault rifle that apparently his mom or his stepdad bought for him. A picture of a police officer beating somebody with a caption saying, "I will protect and serve THE SHIT OUT OF YOU," and him saying that's the cop he wants to be.

At first I wanted to comment about how I'm a liberal activist and police brutality and blah-blah-blah. Then I just felt fear, and I stopped and didn't write anything. I haven't blocked him yet because I want to talk it over with my full brothers, and I don't want to call attention to myself just yet. UGH. SO SCARY. What if he's one of those kids who's going to shoot up his school? What if he's going to be a creepy cop who abuses his power? What do I do? Take screen caps and send them to his school? So scary.  So, so scary.

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From the distant land called Washington, D.C., we’d heard the rumble of war-mongering getting louder every day. And now, the inevitable was upon us. For weeks, George W. Bush and Saddam Hussein had engaged in a stare-down contest. Neither one had blinked and now their eyeballs were all dried out, thanks to their resolve, hubris and, in at least one case, outright insanity. Bush had given Iraq a 48-hour warning, clicking a political stopwatch to life.

As the hour neared, there was something approaching a party atmosphere in the U.S. Army Alaska headquarters building where I worked. Voices rose in pitch. Tight laughter punctuated conversations. Senior officers swaggered down the hallways. At last, at last, all their military training would be put to good use.

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The story took off after Russian news outlet RIA Novosti quoted an unconfirmed report on the alleged military program, which, admittedly, sounds terrifying. "The killer-dolphins will be trained to attack enemy combat swimmers using special knives or pistols fixed to their heads," according to the unnamed source. "We are now planning training exercises for counter-combat swimmer tasks in order to defend ships in port and on raids."

But a Wednesday report revealed the unnamed "expert" was actually a disgruntled museum employee, and that all of the Ukraine's military dolphins (yes, they apparently have those if you believe reports like this) are safe and accounted for, knife-faces and all.

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The women (and some men) who were raped or sexually assaulted by fellow service members are often faced with field commanders, as well as a Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs, who refuse to recognize their claims, provide treatment or prosecute the offenders.

But now survivors of sexual assault in the military are speaking out, putting a human face to a silent epidemic.

In addition to an Oscar nod for “The Invisible War,” a documentary on the pervasive culture of sexual abuse in the military, a viral campaign "I Am One" is documenting the personal experiences of women survivors.

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But the full medical, dental and housing allowances gay military couples have been fighting for will likely remain out of reach, at least for now.

Members of the military are federal employees, and extending equal benefits to gay personell would first require the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the 1996 law that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. That means that even gay couples who have legally recognized marriages in other states still fall under federal jurisdiction at the Pentagon -- and under the rules and restrictions of DOMA.

While the two-tiered system of benefits for gay and lesbian service members remains largely intact, experts believe the Pentagon's latest move toward fairness could help do away with DOMA, eventually:

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The plans have not yet received formal approval from the White House.

The news comes as the French lead a military offensive against militants in Mali, highlighting growing concern over extremist activity on the continent.

Senior defense officials confirmed the plans for the new drone base to Fox News, saying Niger is one possible location for the unit. Niger borders Mali on the east, and Fox claimed the US today signed its first-ever "status of forces agreement" with the small African nation.

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So that's what I was doing in the rain: waiting for an escort. The guy who answered my wife's phone said that if I got inside within 10 minutes I could see her before the ambulance doors closed. "Is she conscious?" I'd asked. "Yes," he answered, "but you should hurry."

Mornings were trafficky, I'll be fair. Maybe because of the quarter-mile of cars, or maybe because I wasn't a "real" wife who could have just waited her turn in line to pass the gate, the ambulance doors closed without me. Somebody wheeled my wife's scuffed-up bike inside the building for safekeeping. The ambulance departed to the base hospital. Meanwhile, outside, the rain slowed. My pajamas clung. I dashed between bumpers to get across the street, and hopped into our friend's VW — our friend the Army captain, whose uniform and ID card, and especially her goodwill, would bail us out often in the weeks ahead as my wife recovered from a broken jaw.

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A round up featuring the very best of the very worst.

Heather Mac Donald of the National Review

The Pentagon must think we are done fighting "real wars." Why else would they let women play army?

We have apparently arrived at the Golden Age, free from strife and the threat of foreign enemies. Little else can explain so gratuitous a decision as to place women in combat units.

And there will be so much military sex happening! (As we know, things are uncomfortable enough with the gays hanging around.)

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Along with the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, Panetta is expected to formally announce the change on Thursday, Pentagon officials said. The military has been debating whether to let women fight on the front lines for years, though many women already serve in these positions, including piloting warplanes and serving on ships in combat areas. Almost 290,000 women have served in Afghanistan and Iraq since the beginning of both wars.

Panetta quietly opened 14,500 combat positions to women last year, and had vowed to lift the remaining exclusions from a 1994 ban on women in combat before his tenure with the Pentagon ended.

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"He doesn’t have the brain to know there is a war here,” the spokesman told the Guardian in response to questions about comments from Capt. Wales' (Harry's military title).

Harry admitted publicly to killing people while he was a co-pilot in an Apache helicopter and, somewhat callously, chalked his skills up to practice with video games. "It’s a joy for me because I’m one of those people who loves playing PlayStation and Xbox, so with my thumbs I like to think I’m probably quite useful," he said.

“I think he has a mental problem; that’s why he is saying it is a game,” the Mujahid said, expressing disbelief that the prince had engaged in real warfare. “I don’t believe that he participated in the fighting,” said the spokesman. “Maybe he has seen the mujahideen in a movie, but that’s it.”

The prince's comments were made during a recently completed 20-week deployment as a gunner in a British Apache helicopter:

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Islamists with the Masked Brigade, who have been speaking through a Mauritanian news outlet, said the Algerians opened fire as the militants tried to leave the vast Ain Amenas energy complex with their hostages a day after seizing the installation deep in the desert.

Algerian forces had surrounded the complex in a tense standoff since the plant was seized early Wednesday and had vowed not to negotiate with the kidnappers, who reportedly were seeking safe passage.

President Barack Obama's government offered military assistance Wednesday to help rescue the hostages, but the Algerian government refused, a U.S. official said in Washington. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the offer.

Information about the 41 foreign hostages the militants claimed to have — including seven Americans — was scarce and conflicting. All were reportedly workers at the remote plant.

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Since the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the military has grappled with how to incorporate same-sex couples into base life.

As the Los Angeles Times reported:

In a memo emailed to Marine Corps legal offices around the country, the Staff Judge Advocate to the Commandant said spouses clubs on Marine installations must adhere to a nondiscrimination policy regarding sexual orientation.

"While the Marine Corps cannot directly control the actions of independent organizations such as spouses clubs, we expect that all who are interested in supporting Marine Corps Family Readiness would be welcome to participate and will be treated with dignity and respect," said Capt. Eric Flanagan, a Marine Corps spokesman.

The memo added: "We would interpret a spouses club’s decision to exclude a same-sex spouse as sexual discrimination because the exclusion was based upon the spouse’s sex."

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She’d last spoken to him on Sunday, five days earlier. “It’s so good to hear your voice,” she had said. “I was worried about you.” She’d never told him that before. Of course she felt it; worry consumed her, and she barely slept. But she didn’t want to add to his stress, and she wanted him to feel he could share anything with her. Two days earlier, when Ian told them he’d gotten his first kill, during the March 3 firefight, she had tried to sound supportive, even let out a little cheer.

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