Iowa Veterans Get New Veterans Affairs Office

World War II vet overwhelmed by new VA facility
KMTV News
Joe Cadotte
Sep 23, 2016

The new Pottawattamie County Veteran Affairs Office has nearly four times more space than the old office, which operated out of an old church for more than 50 years.

After more than 10 years of hard work and half a million dollars in donations, Pottawattamie County has a new veteran affairs office.

It’s an emotional day for Iowa combat veterans.

"It's a special day,” said World War II Army Combat Veteran David Appel. “It's good to know we aren't forgotten."

Seventy-one years and three months since Appel came back from fighting three years in the Pacific Theater of World War II, he stood in a building built for veterans like him, made possible by donations from his community.

"I appreciate you doing all this for us regardless of which war you were in,” Appel said. “One war is not any more important than another. It's something that had to be done."
read more here

New Member of Idaho National Guard, Left NFL?

Special note to reader. Thanks for pointing out wrong state. Goes to show what happens when brain and fingers are having a communication problem.

Super Bowl champion training as a Black Hawk mechanic at Fort Eustis
The Virginian-Pilot
By Brock Vergakis
Published: August 16, 2016

"I'm proud to sign my longest term deal of all time, 8 yrs and have enlisted in the Army National Guard," Daryn Colledge

U.S. Army Spc. Daryn Colledge, 168th Aviation Regiment UH-60 (Black Hawk) helicopter repair student, sits next to a retired Special Forces Black Hawk at Fort Eustis, Va., July 28, 2016. Colledge retired from the National Football League after nine seasons and a Super Bowl Championship, and enlisted in the Army National Guard in March 2016 out of Idaho.
DEREK SEIFERT/U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (Tribune News Service) — Daryn Colledge's time as an NFL player and Super Bowl champion allowed him to frequently travel and meet the troops defending this country, men and women he long admired.

Now he's one of them in Hampton Roads.

Colledge, a 34-year-old former offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers, Arizona Cardinals and Miami Dolphins, joined the Idaho National Guard in March. He's stationed at Fort Eustis while he trains to be a Black Hawk helicopter mechanic with the 168th Aviation Regiment.

Colledge declined an interview request, but appeared in an internal Army news story at Fort Eustis earlier this month.

He likely didn't need the extra paycheck. During his nine seasons in the NFL, Colledge made more than $24.5 million, according to spotrac.com, a site that tracks professional athletes' pay.
read more here

Passengers Honor WWII Soldier Sacrifice With Glory!

Choir Sings ‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’ as WWII Soldier’s Remains Taken off Plane
Free Beacon
BY: Alec M. Dent
July 27, 2016

The Iowa Ambassadors of Music Choir found a unique way to honor a fallen World War II veteran.

The choir was on a flight returning from Germany to the United States, along with an Army private who was escorting the remains of a soldier who fought in World War II. 

After the plane landed in Atlanta, the pilot announced the private would be exiting the plane first, explaining his mission and that he would be continuing his trip to Houston, the fallen soldier’s final destination.
read more here

Veteran Committed Suicide After VA Turned Him Away

Another case where a veteran asked for more help than he was getting but was turned away. What did he do? He posted on Facebook about it and then took his own life.

Until things get fixed once and for all veterans, here's a suggestion. If you turn to the VA crisis line and do not get help right away, or try to get into the VA and they do not take you, CALL 911 LIKE EVERY PHONE CALLER HEARS WHEN THEY CALL THE VA. Do not give up if you know you need help. Ask for the fire department and tell them what you need. They will usually be escorted by police officers just in case, but most of the time, you will simply be taken for help. DO NOT GIVE UP!!! Live to fight the VA another day.

Family asks answers from Iowa City VA after military veteran commits suicide
WKOW
By Greg Neumann
Jul 14, 2016

"It wasn't like a new person. He (the psychiatrist) knows Brandon's history, he knew he was flagged for suicide with the VA," said Nichols. "At least two occasions in the past three years he's been flagged for suicide."

WISCONSIN DELLS (WKOW) - The family of a 33 year-old military veteran believes his suicide could have been prevented if a VA doctor in Iowa City had granted his plea for admittance to a psychiatric ward.

His loved ones are now seeking answers, WKOW reports.

"I came home from war, only to be lost in the fog of another war, a war within myself," read Brad Ketchum Monday afternoon, as he sat among grieving family members in his mother's home.

But those are not Brad's words. They were written by his older brother Brandon Ketchum, a veteran of the Marines and Army National Guard who found himself at a crisis point last Thursday.

"He had relapsed and was abusing drugs and he just was in a bad place," said Kristine Nichols, Brandon's girlfriend of three years who lived with him in Davenport, Iowa.

Nichols said she watched Brandon struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and addictions - first to painkillers, and then heroin.

"He had asked me if I thought he should get inpatient (treatment) and I told him, you know, if he felt that he needed to," Nichols said of her conversation with Ketchum last Thursday.

But Brandon expressed outrage about being turned away on Facebook less than 24 hours later.

"I requested that I get admitted to 9W (psych ward) and get things straightened out. I truly felt my safety and health were in jeopardy, as I discussed with the doc. Not only did I get a 'NO', but three reasons of no based on me being not f***** up enough," wrote Ketchum. "At this point I say, 'why even try anymore?' They gave up on me, so why shouldn't I give up on myself? Right now, that is the only viable option given my circumstances and frame of mind."

Brandon Ketchum took his own life just hours later.
read more here

WKOW 27: Madison, WI Breaking News, Weather and Sports

Iowa Vietnam Veterans Take Honor Flight

First Honor Flight for Vietnam veterans announced
WQAD
By Ryan Jenkins
Jun 17, 2016

BETTENDORF, Iowa (WQAD) - Approximately one hundred veterans will experience the first ever Vietnam Veteran honor flight in September 2016.

The event, hosted by Honor Flight of the Quad Cities, will celebrate these veterans by providing an experience for them to enjoy a dinner before they take off and spend their day touring war memorials and monuments in Washington D.C.

While in Washington D.C., the veterans will take part in a special service near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

“They will join together, they will be able to talk to each other and share experiences, share laughter, maybe even a few tears…” said Steve Garrington, Hub Director of Honor Flights of the Quad Cities.

The flight will depart from the Quad City International Airport on September 15, 2016. The veterans will spend the day in Washington D.C. and return that same night.

Garrington said he hopes to see the community welcome the veterans home upon their return.

“They didn’t really get a welcome home the first time so this is our chance...” said Garrington.
read more here

Gulf War Veteran Heartbroken To Find Body of National Guardsman Hanging

Man reacts to finding fellow veteran dead
Mineral Wells Index
Todd Glasscock
May 27, 2016

“It was really heartbreaking,” said Page, a disabled veteran of the Gulf War, his voice breaking over the phone during an interview. “I definitely cried my eyes out.”

GRAFORD – Every Sunday Mike Page walks to a cafe here to a get a paper, and as he does so, he walks past the Old Peppermill liquor store. Until this past Sunday, those walks were uneventful.

On May 22, Page said he found the body of a young man underneath the store's carport. The young man, Dustin Yeoman, 23, had apparently committed suicide by hanging himself.

Yeoman was wearing a military uniform, Page said.

Yeoman's obituary confirms he was in the National Guard. He was living in Graford, but was originally from Ollie, Iowa.

The Index reached out by phone and online to Yeoman's family for comment but has been unsuccessful with those attempts.

Long said he spoke to Yeoman's National Guard Sergeant Major and confirmed he was an Iraq War veteran.
read more here

This quote really pissed me off!

"Though statistics vary, as many as 22 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan commit suicide daily."

I had to leave this comment

It is not "22 a day" and that report from the VA stated it was limited research from just 21 states and it also listed who they knew were missed. That report was not about OEF and OIF veterans only, but of all generations. The majority of the veterans committing suicide are over the age of 50 and you just trivialized their lives because you used a quote without reading the reports. Dustin Yeoman deserved better and so do all of them. Veterans commit suicide double the civilian rate. As such, when the CDC listed over 41,000 American suicides per year, that translates into over 26,000 veterans a year. They should matter enough to get it right and stop taking the easy way out on reporting on something that is never easy on the family left behind.

Reporters seem to find veterans committing suicide newsworthy however just not worthy enough to do basic research.

Charles Lanam, Homeless Navy Veteran Laid to Rest Surrounded by Love

Once homeless, veteran far from alone at funeral
Des Moines Register
Grant Rodgers
April 18, 2016

"He has no family — absolutely no family, so our staff and the chaplain from IVH will gather on a quiet hillside at IVH and put this man to rest," Mitchell wrote in a post that was shared more than 1,500 times.

MARSHALLTOWN, Ia. — The mourners stood on a breezy hillside Monday to honor a Navy veteran whose face most had never seen. There wasn't even a photograph available of Charles Lanam to adorn the small program at his funeral.

But more than 100 people gathered to see him laid to rest, inspired by a funeral director's plea not to let a veteran's death go unnoticed.

Lanam, who never married and once was homeless while living in Des Moines, was 81 when he died April 10 at the Iowa Veterans Home, leaving behind no known family members.

"Charles was one of those quiet individuals who passed through life seemingly leaving not much of a mark," Craig Nelson, an Iowa Veterans Home chaplain, told the crowd assembled outside the home. "But as with all lives, he touched the people he came in contact with: His family while he was growing up, his shipmates while he served in the Navy, those he worked with, and our staff and the residents of the veterans home … your presence is a reminder of the fact that Chuck's life mattered."
read more here

Red Bull Raised For Carlos Puente-Morales, Police Officer and Veteran

Red Bull raised to honor fallen Des Moines officer
The Des Moines Register
MacKenzie Elmer
April 1, 2016

Senior police officer Jason Hays wanted to do something to commemorate fellow Des Moines officer Carlos Puente-Morales' service as a soldier. The fallen officer, who died Saturday in a crash on Interstate 80, served under Hays in the military and then alongside him as his brother in blue.

Photo: Des Moines Police Department

Hays requested a second flag be added at half-staff to the pole outside the Des Moines police station Thursday afternoon. The Red Bull, a symbol worn by the 34th Infantry Division of the National Guard since World War I, now flies just below the American flag.

"To us, it has a lot of significance," Hays said. "We painted red bulls all over Afghanistan. It's a patch we wear on our shoulders."

Puente-Morales was deployed twice overseas to Iraq and Afghanistan for the Iowa Army National Guard. Hays was his captain, but said Puente-Morales stood out among the hundred or so soldiers under his command.
read more here

"Decorated" Vietnam Veteran Faces Charges Under Stolen Valor

Feds charge Davenport man over medals, Stolen Valor 
Quad City Times
Barb Ickes
Updated 8 hrs ago

Following additional inquiries to the Army and Navy by a Times reporter, a military investigation of Brooks' service record commenced. Results indicated Brooks earned no Silver Stars, nor was he awarded any Purple Hearts.

A decorated Davenport Vietnam veteran is not as decorated as he has claimed, according to federal officials, and he now is facing a charge related to Stolen Valor.

One year ago, Bob Brooks told the Quad-City Times that his war record has been questioned for decades, even by his fellow veterans in Vietnam Veterans Quad-Cities Chapter 299. Although he long has been an active member of the chapter, Brooks was asked last year to resign from the group's Honor Guard and to step down from his role as a delegate to the national convention of Vietnam Veterans.

Brooks did not return phone calls seeking comment.

In a recent letter to members of Chapter 299, president Bill Albracht wrote, "This all came about after the conclusion of an ongoing investigation in reference to Brooks claiming numerous valor awards and military decorations that he never earned nor received. Although he did serve with distinction in Vietnam, he was never awarded the claimed 3 Silver Stars, 5 Purple Hearts."
read more here

Veterans Court Making A Difference For Those Who Served

Veterans Court helping make a difference
Sioux City Journal
Nick Hytrek
Mar 19, 2016

"It got me in touch with benefits I didn't realize I was entitled to," said Linton, an Army generator mechanic from 1992-95 who was convicted in May of first-degree theft. Completing Veterans Court is a condition of his probation.

Tim Hynds Sioux City Journal

SIOUX CITY | Standing at parade rest in a Woodbury County courtroom, Nick Sampson tells a judge about the progress he's made in his treatment for mental illness.

He believes he's been doing well while on pretrial release since his arrest last summer on a charge of reckless use of a firearm.

District Judge Jeffrey Poulson agrees, so much so that he approves Sampson's request to visit his father out of state this summer. Then Poulson promotes Sampson, an Army veteran, to Phase 3 of the Woodbury County Veterans Treatment Court and gives him a military-style dog tag with the word "Honor" stamped on it.

The dog tag is symbolic of the work Sampson has done since his arrest. But the real reward, he said, is the alternative Veterans Court has presented him.
read more here

Senator Grassley Wants Data on Wounded Warrior Project Spending

Senator Wants Data on Wounded Warrior Project, a Charity Under Fire
New York Times
By Dave Phillips
March18, 2016

“Significant questions remain as to whether or not WWP is properly performing its side of the bargain for veterans and taxpayers alike,” the letter said.

Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, on Capitol Hill last week. 

Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

A week after the top executives of the Wounded Warrior Project were fired amid accusations of lavish spending, an influential senator on a committee that oversees nonprofit organizations is asking for a detailed accounting by the country’s largest veterans’ charity.

In a letter Friday to the Wounded Warrior Project, Senator Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican who sits on the Finance Committee, said that recent news media reports had raised questions about the charity’s treatment of employees and its spending. An article in The New York Times described the charity’s work environment as hostile and detailed lavish spending that included millions on staff retreats, food and drinks. “If true, these allegations are a breach of faith with donors, taxpayers, and, more importantly, veterans,” the letter said.
read more here

Taylor Morris Plans for New Home Denied

Iowa veteran Taylor Morris considers options after plans for home denied
Associated Press
December 26, 2015

Vice President Joe Biden watches as President Barack Obama

is photographed with Petty Officer Taylor Morris in the Green

Room of the White House on July 26, 2012.

Pete Souza/The White House

CEDAR FALLS, Ia. — A disabled Iowa veteran says he's considering options after his zoning request to build a new home was denied recently.

Taylor Morris says he's not sure what he will do after the Cedar Falls Planning and Zoning Commission voted Tuesday against the veteran's plans to build a house on undeveloped land that is not served by city sewers or streets.

Morris and his wife want to build on about 1.5 acres near land that is considered agricultural and requires special zoning permission, according to the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier.
read more here

Community Steps Up for Iraq Veteran Living in Jeep at Walmart

Facebook group spreads message to help veteran 
KCCI Des Moines
Eric Hanson
Dec 23, 2015

As of this writing, people in the community have stepped up and given him a hotel room to stay in.

ALTOONA, Iowa —Several KCCI viewers sent emails about a really cool thing happening in Altoona. A man named Jake Holloway posted on the People of Des Moines Facebook group about an Iraq War veteran living in his Jeep in the Walmart parking lot.
read more here

Retired Army First Sergeant Still Serving In A Different Way

Siouxland man won't let injuries prevent him from serving his country
KTIV News
By Tiffany Lane, Multimedia Journalist
October 15, 2015

"It isn't over," he said. "I took an oath to protect and defend this country and nobody's relieved me of that yet."

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV)
Todd Landen has experienced many things in his life that many of us could never imagine.

He served for 21 years leading him to the high rank of Army First Sergeant during that time.

"I rose through the ranks quickly," said Landen. "I went through the most challenging training the Army had to offer and I got to do some things that a lot of people couldn't imagine. It was an honor and a privilege to serve."

Landen was most recently with the 101st Airborne Division, known as the "No Slack" battalion and led 150 people.

In 2005 he left for Iraq and was part of the raid to capture and kill Saddam Hussein's sons.

In 2008, he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury which led to chest, back and stomach injuries to name a few.

"We were getting ready to redeploy to Afghanistan and they were like hey with the extent of your brain injuries, not only are you not going to be a senior leader, you're not going to be in the Army anymore."

Landen has had more than 20 surgeries and counting after being struck by 12 roadside bombs.
read more here

Missing In American Lost Another Veteran Escorting Remains

Crash kills motorcyclist escorting veteran's body, hurt 3 
Des Moines Register
Charly Haley
September 27, 2015

One motorcyclist died and three others were injured Saturday in Iowa when a car crashed into motorcyclists escorting the body of a veteran killed in a similar accident earlier this month.

The crash happened about 1 p.m. on Interstate Highway 80, near Atlantic, when nearly 125 motorcyclists and other vehicles were escorting veteran Bill Henry's cremated remains home to Omaha from the Freedom Rock landmark in western Iowa.

The Iowa State Patrol said Donald Kerby, 81, of Des Moines struck a motorcycle when he changed lanes to avoid a trailer parked on the road's shoulder. Ryan Lossing, 38, of Omaha died, and three other riders were hurt.

Henry was killed after a similar crash near Manassas, Va., earlier this month. The 69-year-old Army veteran died Sept. 14, two weeks after suffering head injuries from a crash that happened as he helped escort six West Coast veterans' remains to Arlington National Cemetery for burial.

Henry co-founded and helped lead the Nebraska chapter of the Missing in America Project, which works with funeral homes to return unclaimed remains of veterans to family members and arrange for military burials.

"It's a tragedy. They (Henry and Lossing) both went before their time," said Larry Schaber, a friend of Henry's who co-founded Nebraska's Missing in America Project chapter with him.
read more here

WWII Iwo Jima Pilot Takes Seat on Honor Flight

Fate leads to vet's first Honor Flight
Ex-fighter pilot met city man on Iwo Jima
Journal Gazette
BRIAN FRANCISCO
Washington editor
September 24, 205

He said Yellin and Hawkins became friends in part through their shared interest in helping veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Yellin co-wrote “The Resilient Warrior,” a 2011 book about PTSD, in which he said he suffered for 30 years before he began practicing Transcendental Meditation.

An ex-fighter pilot who flew the last U.S. combat mission of World War II has never boarded an Honor Flight for a group visit to war memorials in Washington, D.C.

That should change on the morning of Oct. 7, when retired Army Air Corps Capt. Jerry Yellin is scheduled to be a passenger on the Honor Flight Northeast Indiana jet that will depart from Fort Wayne International Airport carrying 85 other veterans.

It’s not as if Yellin, 91, rarely leaves his home in Fairfield, Iowa. He makes public appearances around the country for Spirit of ’45, a nonprofit organization that honors the achievements and sacrifices of the WWII generation. He attended the V-E Day flyover in Washington in May. And the author of four books returned in March to the Japanese island of Iwo Jima, where he and other fighter pilots were based in 1945 for missions escorting U.S. warplanes that bombed mainland Japan.

It was during a 2010 trip to Iwo Jima that Fort Wayne resident Dennis Covert met Yellin while both were riding an elevator at a hotel in Guam.

The next day, Covert took a photograph of Yellin near where Marines had raised the American flag on Mount Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima.

“One of the questions we ask: Can you walk the distance of a football field without assistance? And he said, ‘I can run it if you want me to,’” Covert said Wednesday in a telephone interview. “He’s in pretty good shape.”

The flight will depart Fort Wayne International at 8:30 a.m. and return about 9 p.m. Passengers will include 62 Korean War veterans and 24 WWII veterans, according to Bob Myer, president of the Honor Flight board. Two female veterans will be among the group.

Honor Flight participants fly for free but must be accompanied by volunteer guardians, who pay $400. Yellin’s guardian in Washington will be New York actress and film producer Diane Hawkins, a friend to both Yellin and Covert.
read more here

Wade Baker's Family Hopes To Save Others

We hear this a lot. “We gave him all the support and help we could, but we weren’t told a lot of things,” said Candace Baker, Wade’s mother. “A lot of things were hidden from us. We didn’t know things were that bad.” But we also keep hearing about how much the Department of Defense, the VA and all the charities are doing to make sure veterans and families know.

The first time I heard PTSD, I didn't have a clue what it was. Average folks like me had no way of knowing that experts had been studying it for over a decade. They knew it all! They knew about the cause of PTSD, what it did to the veterans as much as they knew what it did to their families. They also knew what to do to help all of us heal and live better lives to this wound that could not be cured.

They said medication would level off the chemicals in their minds but that was just one part of healing. They also needed to do physical therapy to teach their bodies to react more calmly instead of reacting with adrenaline pumped anger. Their research didn't end there. They knew healing required emotional healing as well by addressing the spirituality component. If you look up the word "component" you find "part or element of a larger whole" and that is exactly what it is. The largest part of the veteran hit by PTSD.

Putting therapy into all three parts of the whole heals. Leave out the most important part and you have needless suffering sucking out hope for the veteran and his family.

Now that you know what was known, you need to know when all that happened. It was back in 1982 when this average person discovered what the experts already knew. That's how long we've had to get it all right. Now maybe you know more about why I get so sick to my stomach when I still hear families say, they didn't know.

Family of killed veteran hopes to help others cope with PTSD
KCCI News 8
Rose Heaphy
Aug 21, 2015

DES MOINES, Iowa —The family of Wade Baker, the veteran shot in a North Carolina church after exchanging fire with police, hopes to share his tragic story to help other families living with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The family said for almost two decades, Baker struggled with PTSD and a brain injury he sustained during his service.

They said his struggle is much like thousands of other veterans living with the disorder.

“We gave him all the support and help we could, but we weren’t told a lot of things,” said Candace Baker, Wade’s mother. “A lot of things were hidden from us. We didn’t know things were that bad.”

Wade joined the Army in 1989 and served for nine years during Operation Desert Storm, according to his family.

“He was very proud of that, I think, but he wasn’t the same when he came home,” said his mother.

When he returned, his family said he was no longer the fun-loving teen he used to be. Instead, he was a quieter man who attempted suicide and faced demons at night.

He would wake up screaming, crying, sweating and shaking,” said Laura Thomas, Wade’s sister.

In recent years, Baker’s parents said their son seemed better.

Three years ago, Baker received a service dog to help calm him and cope with PTSD.
read more here

Decorated Veteran Father of 9 Dies in Gunfire at Church
Thursday, August 20, 2015

Did Congress Care About These Veterans?

Every other year there is a crisis for our Veterans and it just doesn't end up getting fixed. How many times do we have to read about yet another shortfall for the VA? How many more times are we willing to allow members of Congress to make campaign promises they always forget about as soon as they get our votes? They House Veterans Affairs Committee has had since 1946 to do the right thing for veterans. When do they have to explain why they haven't done it?

VA extends funds for vets on verge of losing care
Norfolk Daily News
Steve Liewer
World-Herald service
August 2, 2015

The VA Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System will continue to fund all skilled and nonskilled care services for veterans who already are receiving them through Sept. 30, VA officials announced Friday. But they also said it remains a question mark whether such care will continue when a new budget year begins Oct. 1.

In June, the local VA had begun terminating the reimbursement for some veterans who receive home care and adult daycare through outside organizations like Comfort Keepers and the Franciscan Centre in Omaha. Funding for the program had run out because of a shortfall in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ health care budget.

After angry public hearings with VA Secretary Robert McDonald, Congress passed legislation late this week giving authority to move money from another fund to plug the shortfall. Without that authority, McDonald had said, some VA medical facilities might have to close temporarily. The president signed the bill on Friday.

In Nebraska and western Iowa, reimbursement for home care and adult daycare services for up to 1,900 veterans had been scheduled to end Saturday. Friday’s 11th-hour announcement was a welcome reprieve. “They are faxing us renewals like crazy,” said Jennifer Dil, a business development consultant with Comfort Keepers in Omaha. “This is fabulous news.”
read more here

PTSD Vietnam Veteran In Jail Instead of Treatment?

Veteran With PTSD Jailed Twice In 2 Days: Family Says He Needs Help, Not Jail
WHO 13 News Iowa
BY AARON BRILBECK
JULY 23, 2015

The family says they recently tried to have Schutty committed, but because of a lack of mental health options in Iowa they have been turned away time and time again. They say he doesn’t belong in a jail cell.

NEWTON, Iowa — 68-year old John Schutty of Newton was arrested twice in two days on assault and weapons charges. The first time, Tuesday, police say he chased a woman in his Hummer along Highway Six and forced her into this parking lot.

When police arrived he told them that, as a Vietnam vet he was obligated “Take care of drug dealers” and that “There are people who kill for money and people who kill for fun, but a ranger does both and that’s what he is.”

Despite the threat, Schutty was released from jail, and the very next day showed up at a Git N Go gas station; and he was armed. “They had problems with the prepay and my employee went out to help him.” manager Misty Wooters said, “And he noticed the gun on the bumper with the safety off.”

Schutty, according to police, then went inside. “The guy threatened to shoot people.” Wooters said,”It was a disaster.”

Schutty is in jail, but his family says that’s not where he belongs. They say Schutty is a Vietnam Veteran who struggles with PTSD. He’s been treated for the disorder, but as he gets older, they say, his demons get stronger.
read more here

Death of Fort Hood Soldier Under Investigation

Death of a Fort Hood Soldier: Warrant Officer Sean Michael Young
DVIDS
Fort Hood Public Affairs Office
Courtesy Story
July 7, 2015

Courtesy Photo Fort Hood officials have released the name of a Soldier who died July 5 from an apparent gunshot wound at his off-post residence in Copperas Cove, Texas. Warrant Officer Sean Michael Young, 35, whose home of record is listed as Waterloo, Iowa, entered active-duty service in October 2006. He was assigned to 91st Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division since February 2014.

FORT HOOD, Texas -- Fort Hood officials have released the name of a Soldier who died July 5 from an apparent gunshot wound at his off-post residence in Copperas Cove, Texas.

Warrant Officer Sean Michael Young, 35, whose home of record is listed as Waterloo, Iowa, entered active-duty service in October 2006. He was assigned to 91st Engineer Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division since February 2014.
read more here