AP IMPACT: Combat stress felt far from front lines

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This undated photo released by the U.S. Air Force shows the operations center for the 497th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group at Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Va. Though the gritty combat in Afghanistan is thousands of miles away, analysts in the cavernous room at Langley relive the explosions, the carnage, and the vivid after-battle assessments of the bombings over and over again. And the repeated exposure to death and destruction rolling across their computer screens is taking its own special toll on their lives. So for the first time, an Air Force chaplain and a psychologist are walking the floor of the operations center offering counseling and stress relief to the analysts. (AP Photo/U.S. Air Force)LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. (AP) — They may never come face to face with a Taliban insurgent, never dodge a roadside bomb or take fire, but they still may be responsible for taking lives or putting their own colleagues in mortal danger. And now the military has begun to grapple with the mental and emotional strains endured by these Air Force personnel.

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