Ex-Army Ranger killed by police after wife found murdered

Wife’s body found after police kill estranged husband, a former Army Ranger

The Associated Press
By: Margaret Stafford and Heather Hollingsworth
August 14, 2019

In this photo provided by the Johnson County, Kansas Sheriff's Office, Charles Pearson is pictured in a booking photo dated Oct. 8, 2018. (Johnson County, Kansas Sheriff's Office via AP)

The body of 49-year-old Sylvia Ussery-Pearson was found Tuesday night in northwest Arkansas' Benton County, police said during a news conference in Overland Park, Kansas, where she was from. The discovery was made hours after 51-year-old Charles Pearson, a 21-year veteran Army Ranger who had completed two combat tours in Iraq, walked into a Country Inn and Suites and told the general manager that he killed his wife.

Pearson said he was armed and heading to the nearby Legends Outlet shopping district.

Police in Kansas City, Kansas, said that when law enforcement confronted Pearson at a nearby intersection, he fired several shots at officers, who returned fire and killed him.
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First female combat veteran running for President reporting for duty...in National Guard

Gabbard takes presidential campaign break for Army National Guard training

By: The Associated Press
  August 13, 2019

Gabbard is the first female combat veteran to run for U.S. president. She was elected to Congress in 2012.

HONOLULU — Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii is taking two weeks off from her 2020 Democratic presidential campaign to participate in Army National Guard training.

Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard speaks at the Presidential Gun Sense Forum, Saturday, Aug. 10, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa. (Charlie Neibergall/AP)

Gabbard announced the two-week break in a statement Monday. She will return to the campaign trail on Aug. 25.

Gabbard is a major in the Army National Guard who has served in the military for more than 16 years and deployed to Iraq in 2004 and Kuwait in 2008.
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Military suicides not worth reporters effort?

Military suicides increased in 2018

Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
August 6, 2019

ACTIVE DUTY 325
AIR FORCE 60
ARMY 139
MARINE CORPS 58
NAVY 68

RESERVES 216

541

THOSE ARE THE NUMBERS FROM THE DOD REGARDING SUICIDES IN 2018

THIS IS WHAT THE REPORTERS DECIDED SHOULD BE THE NUMBER THEY LET EVERYONE KNOW....AND FORGETTING ABOUT NATIONAL GUARD AND RESERVISTS

Military suicides reached an all-time high in 2018, Pentagon says
The Washington Examiner
by Russ Read
August 05, 2019

Military suicides reached their highest recorded level last year, the Pentagon reports, highlighting a crisis affecting both civilians and veterans.

In 2018, 325 military service members committed suicide, according to the Pentagon's Defense Suicide Prevention Office, surpassing the previous record of 321 in 2012.

"I feel like this is a drastically underpublicized and addressed issue in the military," one former military member, identified as docgosu, wrote in response to the report on Reddit's veterans' board. "I dealt with behavior health issues in the Navy and the chain of command had no respect for it even while working in the medical field as a Hospital Corpsman."
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Military Private Housing in Wake of Scandal Review---Bad

update Army IG finds widespread concerns with privatized housing and lack of oversight

More Army, Navy Families Unhappy with Private Housing in Wake of Scandal

Military.com
By Patricia Kime
28 Jul 2019

Fort Bragg was at the bottom of the list with an overall rating of 58.9, or "very poor." The North Carolina base housing is managed by Corvias. Fort Meade, Maryland, also managed by Corvias, and Fort Carson, Colorado, managed by Balfour Beatty, were the only two installations to receive "poor" ratings.

Sgt. Andrew McNeil (left), a public affairs mass communication noncommissioned officer, discusses his housing concerns and conditions with Maj. Tabitha Hernandez, commander, 22nd Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, XVIII Airborne Corps, during the unit’s command housing visits at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on April 5, 2019. Bragg came in last on a survey of Army housing, with an overall rating of 58.9, or "very poor." (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Gregory T. Summers)

Satisfaction with privatized military housing has declined since last year for both the Army and Navy, according to surveys released by the services Thursday.

But while soldiers and families living in base housing can view the survey results and see where their installations fall on the spectrum, the results of the Navy survey don't contain specifics for each base and provide only a general look at the overall state of Navy housing.

After a scandal earlier this year as reports came to light of vermin, mold and lead contamination in U.S. military housing managed by private companies, the services launched a series of inspections and fixes, including resident surveys, to determine the extent of the issues and how to address them.
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Missing veteran with PTSD found dead in Texas cemetery

Missing East Texas veteran found dead in Beaumont

CBS 19 News
Author: Matthew Copeland
July 26, 2019

Martin served abroad with the United States Army and suffered from PTSD, according to family.

BEAUMONT, Texas — A East Texas veteran who has been missing for more than two weeks was found dead Thursday afternoon in Beaumont.

Terrell Martin was first reported missing on July 11.

According to the Beaumont Police Department, officers responded Forrest Lawn Cemetery where a vehicle had been crashed in the back of the property.
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Taco Bell employee shocked veteran after he asked for military discount

Lower Burrell veteran overwhelmed by Taco Bell teen worker’s generous offer

TribLive
Madasyn Czebiniak
July 23, 2019

Army veteran Chris Archer will never forget the experience he had Saturday at the Taco Bell in Harrison.

As he was ordering his lunch — four tacos and a water — he asked the employee serving him if the restaurant offered a military discount.

The crew member, Liam Samples, said no. Samples, 17, proceeded to do something that blew Archer’s mind.

He tried to pay for Archer’s $6 meal.

“Before I even had a chance to think about what he was doing, he already had his wallet out and was trying to pay,” said Archer, 39, of Lower Burrell. “I was just like, ‘No, no, no … I got this. That’s amazing. Thank you for the thought for this.’ ”

Archer, who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, thought it would be be fitting to highlight Samples’s generous act by pointing it out to the Tribune-Review.

He said he has been given the senior discount at places where no military discount was offered, but no one has ever tried to pay for him out of their own pocket. Especially a 17-year-old.
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Veteran ran into other veterans...in patrol car he crashed into

CHP vehicle rammed; catches fire during high-speed chase

KTVL News 10
by Brian Schnee
June 28th 2019

"Deputy Stewart established rapport with the man by pointing to a miniature Combat Infantryman’s Badge (CIB) he is authorized to wear on his Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) uniform and he related to Mr. Devivo that he too was a combat veteran," Siskiyou County Sheriff Jon Lopey told News 10. "Mr. Devivo surrendered to Deputy Stewart and was no longer resistant to on-scene CHP or SCSO personnel. 

Near HORNBROOK, Calif. — A male who had been driving over 130 miles per hour on Interstate 5 in Northern California was taken into custody by law enforcement on Friday afternoon after ramming his vehicle into a CHP patrol vehicle.

According to California Highway Patrol, around 12:30 p.m., officers were advised of a possible reckless vehicle driven by a United States Military Veteran, northbound on I-5 at a high rate of speed and possibly experiencing a mental health crisis.

The driver of the vehicle, 28-year-old Jesse Michael Devivo exceeded 130 mph with an officer in pursuit. According to CHP, Devivo made a U-turn on I-5 just north of the Henley Hornbrook and Copco Road overpass. Devivo was now facing the opposite direction and accelerated towards the northbound lanes. When a CHP officer attempted to block the suspect from re-entering the northbound lanes, Devivo rammed into the CHP patrol car causing it to catch fire. A witness helped extinguish the fire.

Deputy Stewart is a combat infantry veteran and former Army Paratrooper. He served with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. Rob’s partner at the time was Deputy Michael Johnson, a retired U.S. Navy Chief and former Navy diver."

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Vietnam Veteran Sgt. Matthew Francis Kelly made a dying wish to his nurse

Strangers invited to funeral for Vietnam veteran who died alone. ‘I wanted to honor his final wishes,’ his nurse said.

Philadelphia Enquirer
by Melanie Burney
July 9, 2019

Kelly left Vietnam in November 1970 and received an honorable discharge, his records show. Little is known about his life after the military. He returned to Philadelphia. Richello said he had a hard life, “and he was one of the forgotten.”

BRADLEY C BOWER / FOR THE INQUIRER

Former Army Sgt. Matthew Francis Kelly made a dying wish to his nurse: He wanted to be buried with full military honors, a parade, bagpipes, and a 21-gun salute.

In death, Kelly will get what he did not receive in life when he returned home to Philadelphia from the Vietnam War nearly 50 years ago. His nurse, Jennifer Richello, has recruited a band of strangers to keep the promise she made to Kelly on his deathbed a few months ago.

“I wanted to honor his final wishes, and love and respect for his service to our country,” Richello, a registered nurse, said in a statement Tuesday. “Kelly was a good man and deserves this.”

Richello also made a special request to mourners: bring a can of Pepsi to the funeral. Kelly loved the soft drink, she said.

After graduating from high school, Kelly enlisted on Jan. 14, 1969, his 20th birthday. He completed training at Fort Bragg, N.C, and Fort Sill, Okla., according to his military record. He was deployed to Vietnam in December 1969 and served as a communications chief in the 13th Battalion Signal, First Cavalry Division.
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Disabled veteran, who was not D.B. Cooper, passed away

He died claiming to be a disabled veteran. But many believe he was hijacker D.B. Cooper.

The Washington Post
By Morgan Krakow
July 11, 2019

Rackstraw, a former Army helicopter pilot who had been awarded a Silver Star for valor, didn’t surface as a suspect until the late 1970s, according to news reports. He’d been arrested on charges of murdering his stepfather, but was acquitted in a trial in 1978.

A man who some believed to be the elusive D.B. Cooper died Tuesday in Southern California.

Robert Rackstraw, who was featured in a 2016 History Channel documentary about the notorious criminal, was pronounced dead at home in the early hours of July 9, according to the San Diego Medical Examiner’s Office. He died of a “long-standing heart condition,” according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Cooper, known for the hijacking of a flight bound for Seattle from Portland, Ore., is thought to have leaped from the plane with $200,000 in cash. Authorities tracked down hundreds of potential suspects but were never able to find Cooper or his body.

The hijacking, the longest unsolved crime of its kind in FBI history, has baffled official and unofficial investigators for decades. Though the FBI closed the case in 2016, theories about the identity of Cooper have continued to swirl.
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Alabama veteran became homeless and got closer to God

Alabama’s homeless veterans: Army vet says struggle brought him ‘closer to God’

AL.com
By J.D. Crowe
July 7, 2019

“Being homeless is an isolated experience. A close relationship to God makes all the difference.”

“Is that what you want people to know about you?” I asked.

“It’s what I want people to know about the Lord.”

Homeless. Veteran. These two words don’t belong together. How could someone who is willing to die for their country wind up on the streets, kicked to the curb after their service?

How many homeless veterans are in Alabama? I want to draw them all – or as many as possible - and let them tell their stories.

According to an AL.com report in 2018 citing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development study, there were 339 homeless veterans in Alabama. Of those, 52 were in the Mobile area. So, it makes sense to start locally.

Those numbers are in flux, of course. Thanks to organizations like Housing First, since last July 151 homeless veterans in the Mobile and Eastern Shore area have been identified and transitioned into apartments.

To kick off this project, we talked with four of these Housing First veterans. We hope their stories will inspire more homeless and formerly homeless veterans to come forward with their stories. (See the video in the story below.)

In the meantime, I’m gonna be searching, listening, learning and sketching.
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Community honors memory of soldier who never got to meet his baby son

Hundreds of flags decorate coffee shop belonging to fallen soldier and wife

The Denver Channel
By: Jessica Barreto
Jul 05, 2019

Sergeant Elliott Robbins also leaves behind a baby son, Elliott Jr., who was born shortly after his deployment.

FLORISSANT, Colo.
Hundreds of U.S. flags now adorn a coffee shop in belonging to a fallen Fort Carson soldier and his wife.

Special Forces Sergeant First Class Elliott Robbins died earlier this week in Afghanistan, just three weeks before he was set to return home.

Many took time out of their holiday on Thursday to pay their respects to Robbins and his family.

Costello Street Coffee House opened up early at 6:30 Thursday morning, and folks from all over the area stopped by to plant a flag, drop off a note of encouragement, and simply let this grieving family know there is an entire community behind them.

"Without them giving up everything for us, we can't celebrate," said Amber Ray, a military spouse who went to the coffee shop with her family.

Robbins deployed to Afghanistan earlier this year, and on Sunday, his family found out he would not be coming home.
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Retired Green Beret received Distinguished Service Cross for heroism in Afghanistan

Green Beret received valor award upgrade for 2005 firefight

Military Times
By: Kyle Rempfer
June 21, 2019

Retired Master Sgt. Larry Hawks was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on June 21 for his actions in Afghanistan back in 2005.

The ceremony took place at the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School auditorium on Fort Bragg, North Carolina, according to an Army news release.

Hawks received the DSC — the second highest military decoration awarded to a U.S. soldier — for gallantry under fire as a member of 3rd Special Forces Group on July 24 and July 25, 2005, in Afghanistan.

“Sgt. 1st Class Hawks, while conducting armed reconnaissance of a town, came under intense enemy small arms, rocket propelled grenade, and mortar fire," the citation reads, according to the Army release. “While moving to interdict enemy combatants attempting to reposition themselves on the high ground west of the village, he discovered one of his comrades was pinned down by enemy fire.”

"Sgt. 1st Class Hawks, without regard for his own safety dismounted from his vehicle and charged toward the enemy position on the high ground. Under continuous fire, he engaged and neutralized the enemy position.”

His actions led to 15 confirmed enemy killed in action, the capture of 14 insurgents, and the recovery of over 30 light and heavy weapons, according to his older Silver Star citation.
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DA's office found police shooting of Iraq veteran in PTSD crisis "justified"

When exactly do we finally admit that all the awareness is useless and it is time to change what we are doing?

Madison County District Attorney’s Office finds fatal Huntsville police shooting was justified

WHNT 19 News
BY BRIAN LAWSON
JUNE 24, 2019

After her Army service in Iraq, Ragland spent time in a Kansas Army facility that helps wounded and ill soldiers transition to civilian life or continued Army service.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Madison County District Attorney's Office agrees with a Huntsville shooting review board in finding that the use of deadly force during a police encounter with an Army veteran suffering from PTSD was justified.

On Friday, a police review board determined the officers involved in the shooting acted within department policy.

Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard told WHNT News 19 Monday that the evidence supports the board's finding.

"The investigator with the Huntsville Police Department met with us and laid out the case," Broussard said. "He showed us the evidence, including the body cams. It was clearly a justified shooting on the part of HPD. There will be no action on our part with respect to presentment to a grand jury, because it was clearly justified."

The fatal incident came after a call from the Stadium Apartments where Ragland lived. Police said they responded to a call of a woman waving a gun and making threats at Stadium Apartments. The woman, 32-year-old Crystal Ragland, served 17 months in the Iraq war and suffered from PTSD. That call proved to be a fatal and tragic collision.
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MOH Staff Sgt. David Bellavia

David Bellavia receives the Medal of Honor for his actions in a ‘house of nightmares’

STARS AND STRIPES
By COREY DICKSTEIN
Published: June 25, 2019

WASHINGTON — Pinned down inside a pitch-black, insurgent-filled house in the early days of the second battle of Fallujah, Staff Sgt. David Bellavia grabbed a heavy M249 automatic machine gun from another soldier and charged forward into oncoming fire from enemy fighters hunkered down in a stairwell.

The enemy fighters froze, ducking away from Bellavia’s fire just long enough for his squad to escape the building and regroup outside. Moments later, with his fellow soldiers outside, the infantryman from Buffalo, N.Y, burst back into the building — eventually killing four insurgents and gravely wounding another.

Nearly 15 years later, Bellavia stood stoically Tuesday as President Donald Trump placed the Medal of Honor around his neck for his actions that night — Nov. 10, 2004, his 29th birthday. The former infantryman who left the Army in 2005 never cracked a smile during the White House ceremony, sharing only telling nods with more than a dozen of the men with whom he served. Along with his family, the men joined him on the East Room stage and a packed audience roared and applauded.

Many of those men would not have made it to the White House on Tuesday if it were not for Bellavia and his “exceptional courage to protect his men and defend our nation,” against an enemy “that would have killed them all had it not been for David,” Trump said.
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From the White House

Army veteran committed suicide after Lasik surgery

Ex-FDA Advisor Says Of LASIK Eye Surgery: ‘It Should Have Never Been Approved’

CBS News Pittsburgh
June 17, 2019

Burleson said the surgery caused her son, an Army veteran, to go legally blind. She said his chronic suffering caused him to take his own life. “They found the suicide note on him that said the doctor ruined his eyes,” she said.

PITTSBURGH (CBS) — A former FDA advisor, who told the government to approve LASIK eye surgery in the 1990s, is now saying it should have never happened.

It comes as more patients are having the procedure, and a number of them are seeing problems instead of seeing better.

“Imagine every good thing you see today, tomorrow you don’t,” said Rick Rackley, who gets emotional talking about his corrective eye surgery one year ago.

The gourmet food truck owner, who loves the outdoors, didn’t want to wear prescription sunglasses when he was outdoors. But he says LASIK eye surgery made his eyesight worse.

“There is substantial blurriness. It’s just fuzzy,” he said.

Heather Christensen also had LASIK eye surgery eight years ago.

“For months after that I was seeing rainbows and halos around everything,” she said.

She didn’t need glasses when she got the procedure, so it frustrates her that now she does. She blames LASIK for making her eyes worse.

“I was reaching 40. I was having trouble reading labels and small print,” she said explaining the reason behind getting LASIK.
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Fort Bragg solider dressed to kill, then opened fire in a home

Police: Fort Bragg Soldier Wearing Military Gear Opened Fire into Home

The Associated Press
June 14, 2019

The active duty soldier is charged with attempted first-degree murder and shooting into an occupied dwelling, both of which are felonies. He will be taken into custody if he is released from the hospital, officials said.

Fort Bragg soldier Eric Jerrod Davis is accused of shooting at someone with a shotgun inside a home, officials said. (Scotland County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigative Unit/Facebook)

LAUREL HILL, N.C. — A soldier wearing military-issued ballistic gear opened fire inside a North Carolina home and was wounded by return gunfire before he left and was injured in a car crash, according to authorities.

U.S. Army E-4 Specialist Eric Jerrod Davis was in critical condition at a hospital, news outlets reported Wednesday. Davis is accused of shooting at someone with a shotgun on Sunday morning inside the home in Laurel Hill, officials said.

"Several innocent bystanders were present at the time, and one innocent bystander returned fire, shooting Davis," the Scotland County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. It is not clear if anyone else was injured.
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Abused Pit Bull and Disabled Veteran find healing together

New Beginning for Abused Pit Bull, Franky, and Combat Veteran

Clarksville Now
By Jessica Goldberg
June 15, 2019

Retired Sergeant Major Chris Self, is no stranger to overcoming adversity. An Army Special Forces veteran, Self has also served as a military police K-9 officer. In 2005, Self sustained gunshot wounds to both his legs. In 2006, he had to have his right leg amputated to return to active duty.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – What some thought may be the end of one dog’s life, turned into a beautiful new beginning. Courage, tenacity, and the strength to overcome brought one Fort Campbell solider and man’s best friend together. Franky, the pit bull discovered earlier this year suspected of being used as a bait dog, has finally found a forever home.

On Friday, Retired Army Sergeant Major, Chris Self, was surprised at Nashville International Airport with 18-month-old Franky. “It’s a boy,” shouted Dana Self, Chris Self’s wife. Chris Self bent down to meet his new companion.

Montgomery County Animal Control received a call April 14 to pick up a dog. What they saw shocked everyone. A pit bull with gruesome head injuries, including half his scalp missing and ear flaps ripped off. Maggots infested the open wounds. Bite marks surrounding his head, neck, and legs, coupled with the other injuries led authorities to believe this poor creature had been used as a bait dog in dog fighting.
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Vietnam veteran Robert Earl Hanson life remembered after Agent Orange

Winter Park Vietnam War veteran, who died from Agent Orange effects, to be honored in Washington, D.C.

ORLANDO SENTINEL
By MARTIN E. COMAS
JUN 13, 2019

Just months after Robert Earl Hanson graduated from Colonial High School in 1966, the outgoing young man known as “Bobby” found himself thrust into the jungles of Vietnam as an Army private carrying a teletype machine and a rifle.

Patricia Hanson holds an old photo of her and her late husband, Robert Earl Hanson, who died in June 2018 of cancer caused by exposure to Agent Orange. (Martin E. Comas / Orlando Sentinel)

At the time, U.S. military planes were spraying millions of gallons of the defoliant Agent Orange across the Vietnamese countryside to expose enemy soldiers during the Vietnam War.

Hanson, like millions of other American and Vietnamese soldiers, was exposed to the dangerous herbicide. It led to Hanson’s malignant lung cancer decades later and ultimately caused his death on June 29, 2018, at the age of 69, according to doctors.

On Saturday, Hanson will be among 536 deceased veterans — including 13 from Florida — who will be inducted into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s “In Memory Program” as part of an annual three-day ceremony held every June in Washington, D.C.
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Who killed Army veteran Everett Palmer Jr.

Family claims US Army vet was murdered in police custody

New York Post
By Tamar Lapin
June 12, 2019

They claim that when his body was returned to them, his throat, heart and brain were missing.

The family of a US Army veteran who died last year in Pennsylvania police custody are claiming he was murdered, according to published reports.

The last time relatives of Queens-born Everett Palmer Jr., 41, heard from him was in April 2018, when he said he was going to Pennsylvania to resolve an outstanding DUI warrant from two years earlier, the family said.

Palmer, a dad of two who lived in Delaware, was booked into a single cell at the York County Prison on April 7, 2018.

Two days later, he was dead.

“The most frustrating part is my son being murdered and not having any answers to how he was murdered,” Rose Palmer, Everett’s mother, said during a Tuesday press conference, according to CBS News.

“Since April 9, I have not had a good night sleep since I think about my child and the possible scenarios. It is torture. He didn’t deserve this,” she said. “He went there to check on his license and he never made it out.”
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Fort Worth veteran shot by SWAT Team had PTSD

Man fatally shot by Fort Worth police was Army veteran in constant pain, family says

Star Telegram
BY MITCH MITCHELL
JUNE 07, 2019

Cody Seals turned toward an officer, still locked out in a shooting stance, and pointed the light at him, which was later determined to be a flashlight, police said. Believing officers were about to be fired upon, a SWAT officer fired his weapon.

FORT WORTH
Sometimes the battles soldiers fight after they return from war are the most unforgiving, the family members of a man police killed last weekend said.

Cody Wayne Seals served in the U. S. Army between 2004 and 2008, doing more than one tour in Iraq, his mother, Sandra Seals, said.

Between 2008 and now, she got sick, her son got sick and he moved in with his father, she said.

A Fort Worth Police Department SWAT officer shot and killed Cody Seals, 38, on the evening of June 1 after a three-hour standoff at his home.
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Before it gets to the point where veterans are facing off with Police Officers, which many of them are also veterans, isn't it time that veterans actually got the message they have been needing to hear? #BreakTheSilence and #TakeBackYourLife so you can heal and be happier!

With all the repulsive raising of awareness that suicides are happening...we need to remember that message is not healing. Veterans already know how to kill themselves. What they do not know is why they should stay alive!