Showing posts with label Delaware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Delaware. Show all posts

Monday, September 9, 2013

Vietnam Veteran Retires after 42 Years of Service

Vietnam Veteran Retires after 42 Years of Service
DVIDS
by Sgt. Lori Bilyou
Sep 09, 2013

BETHANY BEACH, Del. - Delaware National Guard members witnessed history Saturday, Sept. 7, as they gathered along with family and friends to honor the retirement of Army Master Sgt. Richard Hitchens, the last active member of the Delaware Army National Guard who served in Vietnam.

Speaking to those assembled, Hitchens stated, “One day back in May of 1968 my mother and father took me to the bus station in Salisbury, Md., put me on a Trailways bus and I shipped off for the rest of my life. I committed. I committed myself to the country.”

Hitchens, the youngest of 11 children, grew up on a farm. Like seven of his brothers who joined the army before him, Hitchens was looking for a better life. So in 1968, at the age of 16, Hitchens enlisted with a doctored birth certificate.

“I remember thinking I’d made a mistake when I got to basic training,” Hitchens said.
read more here

Last South Dakota Vietnam Veteran Retired

Monday, April 15, 2013

Guardsman reveals PTSD struggles to alter perceptions after 6 tours

Guardsman reveals PTSD struggles to alter perceptions
William H. McMichael
The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal
April 14, 2013

Delaware guardsman is facing diagnosis head-on, accepting treatment and trying to dispel stereotype of crazed war veteran who becomes violent.

Wars do awful things to bodies, and Maj. Roger Rodriguez had been a frequent witness. The veteran flight nurse had five post-Sept. 11 wartime deployments under his belt, every one of them spent retrieving the torn and broken bodies of U.S. troops from battlefields and field hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For years, what Rodriguez had seen and heard gnawed at him, as he wrestled with, but pushed aside, sleep problems and nightmares. He had been resilient — as the military terms it.

On his sixth trip to the war zones, what had been welling up inside slowly burst through the emotional shield he had so carefully constructed. When the Delaware Air National Guardsman came home in December 2009, he felt overwhelmed.

"Every person has a breaking point," said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, 44, asked to speak to a Delaware Air National Guard life skills counselor, who recommended he seek help at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Wilmington, Del. Because he was still in uniform, he ended up at the mental health clinic at Dover Air Force Base.
read more here

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

National Guard lending a much-needed hand after Sandy

National Guard lending a much-needed hand
Traffic, rescue operations are among the calls of duty
By William McMichael
The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal
Posted : Wednesday Oct 31, 2012

A steady stream of cars coming north through Fenwick Island on Del. 1 came face-to-face with a Delaware National Guard Humvee blocking both travel lanes and soldiers directing them into the left turn lane.

Another Humvee blocked the left turn onto the roadway from Lighthouse Road. A Delaware State Police cruiser parked across northbound Del. 1 completed the blockade.

It was a scene repeated Tuesday across the lower half of the state, particularly in Sussex County, which appears to have gotten the worst of Superstorm Sandy. Guardsmen worked in support of police and other civil authorities to control traffic, assess damage and rescue stranded residents.

“Last night, we were taking people to the Cape Henlopen High School shelter,” said Spc. Matthew Underwood of the 198th Signal Battalion’s A Company, citing evacuations in Long Neck, Georgetown and elsewhere.

Underwood had stopped at a Rehoboth Beach checkpoint before he moved on to help state police with damage assessments.
read more here

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Delaware American Legion Auxiliary holds leadership workshop

American Legion Post 28
“Leadership is ordinary people making the extraordinary happen.”

Auxiliary holds leadership workshop
The Department of Delaware American Legion Auxiliary recently held its first Leadership Workshop at the American Legion Post 28 in Millsboro. The workshop provided an opportunity to expand ideas on how the American Legion Auxiliary can meet the needs of newer veterans and their families and how to attract them as part of the Legion family. Attendees also discussed specific opportunities for units to participate in the growth of the organization.

Carole Baldwin, the department leadership chairwoman and president of Unit 28, welcomed the more than 30 participants. Mary Lee Phillips, a member of Unit 28, spoke on the subject, “Are You a Leader?” and got to the heart of the question by telling them they all were and they just needed to find their niche. She said, “Leadership is ordinary people making the extraordinary happen.”


Keynote speaker Sen. Leanna Washington, D-Pa., spoke on “Women and Leadership Roles” and used her own personal transition from the House of Representatives to the Senate to demonstrate how being aggressive and positive can put people on their life goal path. Washington, who is the minority chairwoman for the Committee on Aging and Youth and also serves on the Veterans Affairs Committee, said, “I will go where there is no path, and I will leave a trail for others to follow.” There were many questions for Washington, and her openness and frank discussion engaged the attendees.


Special guest Donald Whitehead, the former executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless and one of four formerly homeless individual advocates nationally invited to the first National Symposium on Homeless Research, presented the face of the homeless in a unique way.
read more here
Delaware American Legion Auxiliary

Monday, April 27, 2009

Del. Guardsman charged with raping soldier

Del. Guardsman charged with raping soldier
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Apr 27, 2009 12:47:12 EDT

GEORGETOWN, Del. — A member of the Delaware Army National Guard has been charged with raping a fellow soldier at the Georgetown Armory and sexual extortion.

Georgetown police say Staff Sgt. Theodoric Dixon, 36, was arrested Friday and charged with first-degree rape, unlawful imprisonment, sexual extortion, coercion and official misconduct. He has since been released.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/04/ap_del_guard_rape_charge_042709/

Monday, May 12, 2008

Delaware's Only Veterans Shelter Full

Reported by Jeremy Tucker
Delaware's Only Veterans Shelter Full

05/11/2008 5:50 PM ET

MILFORD, Del. - Delaware's only homeless shelter for veterans is bursting at the seams. Nationwide, nearly 25 percent of homeless people have served their country. And the shelter's director says it is getting harder for veterans to get by.

Veteran Kevin Arnold lost his job about a year ago and came to live at the shelter. He served his country in the 1980's, but is now being helped by Home of the Brave.

"I've been searching for a job for a long time actually even though I am a college graduate with an environmental sciences degree," said Arnold.

Arnold said with a weak economy, it is getting harder for veterans to get by. The problem is even worse for those with medical problems, some caused by war, who cannot pay their bills.

According to Delaware's Homeless Planning Council, about 17 percent of people in homeless shelters in the state are veterans. And 32 percent of the people living on the streets served in our armed forces.

The shelter's director, Rich Pokorny, said many people simply do not realize there are a growing number of homeless veterans.

Pokorny says, "It surprises a lot of people that a veteran could be homeless. They're no different than other people, they served their country, but they can still fall on hard times."

Everyone has a job at the shelter. And every veterans goal is to get back on their feet and leave. But while they stay at the shelter, most veterans said they feel right at home.

All around the shelter you will find reminders about the kind of people who are living at Home of the Brave.

They are people who bravely served their country, who are now being served by the shelter. They are men and women who have seen better times, but still have hope for a better future.

To donate to the shelter you can send checks to:

Home of the Brave

6632 Sharps Road

Milford Delaware, 19963.

The shelter also accepts gift certificates, phone cards, canned goods, baked foods and cleaning products.

http://www.wboc.com/Global/story.asp?S=8306982