By Eric Ditzian

After much hype — most of it joyfully, shamelessly self-created — Stephen Colbert touched down inside Iraq for the start of a week's worth of shows live from one Saddam Hussein's former palaces.

Monday night's pre-taped episode of "The Colbert Report" showcased the host at his bloviating best, heartily congratulating himself for his bravery one minute and aiming his satirical arrows at the usual political targets the next. Starting off with a cold open sketch that had Stephen kidnapped and secreted away to an undisclosed location, he arrived in Iraq only to be pelted — à la former President Bush — with shoes and to learn, much to his chagrin, that no alcohol is served in the country.

The show itself took place in a large auditorium in front of an all-soldier audience. As is usually the case when late night shows travel away from their home studios and to larger venues, this airing of the "Report" suffered somewhat from a lack of intimacy. Forced to project his voice and play to the crowd rather than to the camera, Stephen's opening jokes came off less like a late night monologue than some massive graduation speech.
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During his address to Congress last night, President Barack Obama focused on the state of the economy, bringing a young and energetic voice to an otherwise grim situation. While he came off stern and concerned, the president offered uplifting statements as well, saying, "We will rebuild," and arguing the potential success of the $787 billion stimulus package, which has gone from a bill to a reality in recent weeks.

Any overarching presidential speech of this decade would be remiss if it didn't include a plan for Iraq, Afghanistan and our troops. Beyond the overwhelming youth involvement and enthusiasm, there are a few things that stuck out as major promises in President Obama's campaign, like the planned 16-month troop pullout from Iraq. Democrats and young people across the nation applauded Obama for his plan, which was in strict opposition to that of former President Bush and, of course, opponent John McCain.

So when Obama gave the time frame of 19 months last night in his speech, there were a few furrowed brows. While the campaign promised 16 months, apparently the Pentagon and military officials argued for 23 months — and so, through a "meeting of the minds," as Obama called it, they arrived at a compromise of 19 months. Compromise? In Washington? Fresh. And certainly a departure from the more ... didactic and unilateral decision-making of our 43rd president. I think we can forgive the three-month difference in place of the bigger promise kept, which was to bring compromise, and a president who listens to his entire Cabinet before making a fair and balanced decision.
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Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is an illness that most people have a surface knowledge of, at best, even though its earliest reports date back to 6th century B.C. In the post-Vietnam War era, it made a more frequent appearance in the media, as combat veterans returned home and struggled with anger, insomnia, hyper-vigilance and flashbacks, among other symptoms. Since then, some people owe their knowledge on the subject to Oliver Stone's "Born on the Fourth of July," or even the current presidential election, as political pundits have accused John McCain of being unfit to run the country because he may have been traumatized by his POW experience.

But what do we really know about it? How close have most of us ever been to someone suffering from the disorder?

(Watch Iraq veteran Bryan Adams' story after the jump.)
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By Ocean MacAdams

Approximately 1.7 million soldiers and sailors have fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a recent MTV poll, nearly six in ten (58 percent) 18-24-year-olds stated that they personally know someone who has served in Iraq.

MTV News believes that how these young veterans are re-integrated into society — how they cope with their wartime experiences and how they are treated by America — will be one of the stories of this generation. Because of that, MTV is dedicating its Choose Or Lose campaign this year to highlighting the issues of young veterans. We've already introduced you to a number of veterans (head here and here) and we even brought a group of young vets to meet Senators Obama and Clinton.

On Monday, we're going to do something new. Kanye West has been interested in the issue as well, and he's decided to team up with MTV for a special called "Choose or Lose & Kanye West Present: Homecoming." During his recent Glow in the Dark Tour, Kanye met up with three young veterans — one in Oklahoma City; one in Austin, Texas; and one in Charlotte, North Carolina. Each veteran had their own unique story, but all had two things in common: They served in Iraq and were now home and struggling. Whether it was dealing with family debt incurred while they were away or an inability to work while being treated for post traumatic stress disorder, these young vets were in danger of slipping through the cracks.

In each city, Kanye met with them and heard their stories. He brought them to his show and made sure they knew how thankful we all are for their service. More importantly, however, we tried to help. Whether it was money to pay off debt, help with finding a job or help with school bills, each vet was surprised by a gift from MTV and the Dr. Donda West Foundation, named in honor of Kanye's late mother.

It’s a pretty special show — hey, even Bill O'Reilly said nice things about it — and we hope you enjoy it. It airs Monday, July 28 at 10 p.m. on MTV. Here’s a segment from the show.

What's more socially acceptable: Gay marriage or gays in the military?

That was the question posed this morning after nearly 20 college students, mostly from Harvard Divinity School and all part of the Right To Serve Tour, marched to the Times Square military recruitment office to protest "Don't Ask Don't Tell," a policy signed into law by President Clinton in 1993.

Ex-Soulforce leader and Equality Ride co-founder Jake Reitan led the demonstration. He attempted to enlist, but once he announced to the recruiters that he was gay, recruiters ordered him to leave the office or (incredibly) be arrested for trespassing. Reitan refused and was quickly led away in handcuffs in front of picketing Right To Serve students and hordes of Times Square gawkers. An hour later, he was released from police custody with a summons to appear in court by the end of July. Read more...

Tragic news: more soldiers committed suicide in 2007 than in any other year since 1990. 108 members of the Army took their own lives, most after coming home from overseas. And that number only covers active-duty soldiers -- not reservists, Guardsmen, or new veterans.

Of that number, at least 16 Army recruiters have committed suicide since 2000. In a recent story, Nils Aron Andersson took his own life last year after a deployment to Iraq and an assignment as a recruiter. In Andersson's case it wasn't just his life that was lost: his new wife killed herself the day after he committed suicide.

The Pentagon will release a full report on soldier suicides later today. MTV News will keep you posted.

In honor of the holiday, here's a collection of stories we've done in recent months on U.S. troops and the issues affecting them.

· We've followed the GI Bill, from the debates on the floor of Congress to its approval in the Senate, from the soldiers' gripes to our own.

· We set up an intimate Q&A session between the Democratic presidential candidates and a group of soldiers.

· The cast of "Stop-Loss" told us how their perceptions of the military changed over the course of shooting the movie.

· Some Obama-supporting vets explained what their candidate is doing to address their concerns.

· We looked at a virtual-reality game that's helping soldiers with PTSD.

· We cheered when gay and lesbian soldiers won right to sue the military over unlawful dismissal.

· Our Choose or Lose Street Team '08 members have run several stories about young soldiers, including Iowa correspondent Nathan Leigh's piece on Spc. Nicholas Maranell's take on our presence in Iraq.

· And on the lighter side, four "American Idol" fans — who also happened to be soldiers stationed in Iraq — found the time to write up their opinions about the show. Now that's going above and beyond the call of duty.

Progress for vets around the country: the Senate just passed that new GI Bill we've been telling you about!

Things got exciting (um, by Congressional standards) in the Senate this morning as a bunch of Republicans switched their votes to YES at the last minute. Sen. Jim Webb's plan to increase the amount of money veterans get to go to school passed 75-22 as part of next year's funding package for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That wide margin of victory is good news, since President Bush has promised to veto the entire thing. We're not sure if you all remember how a bill becomes a law (hello, Saturday morning!), but that's a large enough majority for the Senate to override that veto.

Of course, we are in the middle of a presidential campaign (how do you define the "middle" of something that is neverending?), so debate on the floor got mad political. Sen. Barack Obama took to the floor and criticized Sen. John McCain for not supporting this version of the GI Bill:

"I respect Sen. John McCain's service to our country. He is one of those heroes of which I speak. But I can't understand why he would line up behind the President in his opposition to this GI Bill. I can't believe why he believes it is too generous to our veterans. I could not disagree with him and the President more on this issue. There are many issues that lend themselves to partisan posturing, but giving our veterans the chance to go to college should not be one of them."

McCain, who has his own, less popular plan for funding veterans' educations was not present for the vote. He was campaigning in California, but managed to release a statement to the press:

"It is typical -- but no less offensive -- that Sen. Obama uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent and easy advantage of an issue he has less than zero understanding of. Let me say first in response to Sen. Obama, running for President is different than serving as President. The office comes with responsibilities so serious that the occupant can't always take the politically easy route without hurting the country he is sworn to defend. Unlike Sen. Obama, my admiration, respect, and deep gratitude for America's veterans is something more than a convenient campaign pledge. I think I have earned the right to make that claim."

This in from MTV News producer Michelle Rabinowitz:

A couple of years ago, (former) MTV News correspondent Gideon Yago and I got to try out this really cool virtual-reality video game some scientists were using to treat veterans with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). (You can see Gideon checking out the game's graphics in the clip above.) Our own Stephen Totilo even wrote a killer article about it.

So, when about a dozen people emailed me the recent New Yorker feature on the same topic, I've been more than happy to redirect them back to our original coverage. Yo, New Yorker, we call first!!

Anyway, the set-up is a mod of "Full Spectrum Warrior," and boy was it nerve-wracking. I almost peed my pants a couple of times -- and we were using the incomplete setup of just a controller and the virtual-reality helmet! The full set-up includes a rumble mat and odor machine with authentic Iraq War scents such as "body odor" and "burning." Um, good times!

You have to respect the men and women who can handle this in the real world...

So that new GI Bill that was set to be voted on last week? Yeah, it got yanked off the House table after a contingent of conservative(ish) Democrats known as the "Blue Dogs" opposed the measure.

They barked over the lack of a funding plan -- even though the bill is part of a supplemental funding package for the wars these veterans have fought in, and Congress keeps passing those packages without a funding plan. In response to such public disunity, House Speaker and Dem Nancy Pelosi announced in a press conference, "I'm sure we'll be able to work something out."

We hope the folks in DC worked on the issue over the weekend, because Pelosi said that she still plans on having the supplemental funding package -- GI Bill included -- on the President's desk before Memorial Day Weekend.

A few people posted thoughtful responses to our last entry on the bill:

· Leon: “It's clear that the government is too broke to afford to pay for the troops’ education but [is] still selling the fact that they will do so to prospective soldiers. I feel for those who sign up to fight for “freedom” and to help themselves get an education but are being robbed from the start.”

· Joshua Hudson: “Giving a good college benefit would attract better recruits…Educated veterans [add] to the reputation of the military as a viable option for a career. It is good for America, the military and those who serve…We need a motivated, educated young crew of veterans out there to be an inspiration to our future soldiers.”

So many members of our generation have fought in Iraq, and continue to fight. What are your thoughts on how we should welcome them home? Why has it taken this long for the GI Bill to be revised? And what benefits do you think would best serve our troops when they return home?