Add gambling addiction to the long list of administrative, medical, and emotional issues facing veterans these days. Moreover, as The Hill reported yesterday, the problem may be fueled by the military's own use of slot machines.  According to The Hill, vacations for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are funded in part by other soldiers' money lost on military slot machines.

The critics say:

“It is wrong for the U.S. government to use gambling to pay for what we [in Congress] should be supplying for our troops to begin with...That’s a disgrace and a shame.”

Proponents say:

“The military is not a helpless waif in this; they will do what they want to do...Members of Congress should not waste time with nonsensical issues telling the military what recreational activities they should allow on bases.”

And the official line as told to CNN last May:

"Undersecretary of Defense Leslye Arsht, in a statement to CNN, said the machines on bases and posts provide "a controlled alternative to unmonitored host-nation gambling venues and offers a higher payment percentage making it more entertainment oriented than that found at typical casinos."

Slot machines and bingo games are often found on overseas military bases. From The Hill:

The Army operates more than 3,000 slot machines on overseas bases, and manages the Marine Corps’ and some of the Navy’s and Air Force’s slot machine operations. The Air Force also runs its own gambling programs. The military currently has slot machines in Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan and Korea, but the Department of Defense did not provide the total number.

Critics charge pathological gambling is one by-product of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and these readily available gambling facilities only fuel the problem.  According to The Hill's article the last inpatient military treatment clinic for gambling was closed in 2006.  From 1998-2003, two percent of military personnel (30,000 people) reported problems with pathological gambling.  Despite outcry on the readily available gambling facilities, one retired Admiral had this to say:

“There is a fine line between asking young men and women to give the ultimate sacrifice and making life-and-death decisions and then saying that they are not mature enough to make conscious decisions on their own.  Where do you draw the line?”

To personalize the issue The Hill found Lenyatta Tinnelle, a senior airman who was eventually forced out of the Air Force as a result of her gambling addiction.

Tinnelle first started gambling when she was stationed at Camp Red Cloud in South Korea in the mid-1990s, but her addiction intensified when in 2000 she was deployed to Keflavík, Iceland, where the slot machines available on the former naval base offered a respite from dark, cold evenings and boredom.
The senior airman, who had been diligent about having savings and investing money in bonds over the years, ended up gambling all her $40,000 in savings and wrote about $50,000 in bad checks on the base.