On a recent fall day, Shirwan Mahmoud walked the dingy hallways and windowless cells of the prison he once thought would be his tomb. The brilliant sunshine outside seemed a world away from the dark recesses of a building that served as a headquarters for some of the Saddam Hussein regime's most brutal abuses.

But despite the harrowing decline, now is no time for servicemembers feeling economic anxiety to sell or move investments, according to financial specialists in the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.