In this episode of "Scripps News Investigates," we explore the battle for military benefits, ships and barges crashing into bridges and the market of counterfeit diet drugs.

Air Force continues review of Line of Duty determinations after ABC15 reports

According to an investigation by Scripps News, “In the last couple of years, hundreds of injured and sick Air National Guard members have filed claims for medical care and pay that get approved by local commanders and then denied by national headquarters.”

Left to contemplate suicide and more, the Air Force and Department of Defense (DOD) will soon abandon one of their own, and they simply don’t seem to care.

A U.S. Air Force sergeant who reportedly attempted suicide several times after returning from a deployment last year in the Middle East was told this week that he has to leave his base in New Jersey.

Just about every doctor who examined him agrees that Kyle Matthews, an Air Force sergeant, developed psychological problems after returning last year to his base in New Jersey from a Middle East deployment.

As the Department of Defense continues to ignore the plight of many service members injured in the line of duty, the House Armed Services Committee shamefully ignores repeated calls for accountability and compliance with federal law.

Jeremy Schuld joined the military 20 years ago. He wanted to battle terrorism after 9/11.

He didn’t expect to end his military career in a battle for benefits.

“It was a rough way to end an otherwise very good career,” Schuld told the ABC15 Investigators earlier this month.

Part 2: In 2021, Kjornes was sent to Maxwell Airforce Base in Alabama for a year-long officer training school. Her medical records show the stress aggravated an illness that she first experienced a decade before while in pilot training.

Part 1: Arizona Air National Guard pilot Christine Kjornes spent years battling the Department of Defense for medical benefits and pay after health conditions forced her from the cockpit.

According to the most recent data obtained by CBS News, about 30% of injury claims that are recommended by local commanders are determined not to qualify by the Air National Guard, raising questions among service members about whether correct policies and procedures are followed.

According to Mr. Sorenson: “The Air Force rampantly violates their own regulations and federal law to deny disability benefits, [and] they make the suffering service member fight with their hands tied behind their back to attain medical care and benefits they are entitled to by law, especially those with PTSD or other mental health issues.”

It’s a case that warrants further investigation, Mr. Alvarez said. “What they did to this soldier is sick and demented, and the men who did this to him should not be able to move on as if it never happened.”

Concussion, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in service members have been misdiagnosed and improperly treated for decades, according to a leading expert. Without treating the brain wound, he says, underlying damage will continue to precipitate, worsening symptoms in many who defend America.

Despite climbing spectacularly through the ranks of the U.S. Army, a lieutenant colonel now faces court-martial for being willing to speak the truth about a suicide investigation at one of the nation's largest military installations.

A former Marine artilleryman injured while fighting ISIS is now fighting for the benefits he's been denied. A group advocating on his behalf says the silence from Congress and the Pentagon is both deafening and disappointing.

In part one of this series, to make his wrongs right, Sergeant Javier E. Ortiz reported the use of cannabis to his healthcare providers. Because a “cocktail” of prescription medications was not working, and worsening his quality of life and health, Ortiz made the regrettable decision to self-medicate with cannabis to fight the demons inside caused by the trauma of war.

A former Marine artilleryman says he was neglected and unjustly treated by the branch after suffering brain injuries during a 2017 campaign to defeat ISIS in Syria.

The United States will need to help South Korea better integrate into bilateral and minilateral agreements to deter such a threat, says a report published by The Center for a New American Security think tank.

China’s “Xi JinPing Says He Is Preparing China For War” so we find ourselves in a situation very similar to the period immediately prior to the United States entry into World War 2. The time we have to prepare for the worst is indeed short.