Female Soldier Proved Doctors Wrong And Did the Unxpected

A soldier's story of trauma, triumph and tomorrow
WCSH 6 NBC News
ELLE OUSFAR
December 23, 2016

Gardner has proven wrong every doctor who told her it couldn't be done. While in rehab Gardner started playing sled hockey and eventually made the USA women's Sled Hockey team.

LEWISTON, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Army Sergeant Christy Gardner was injured in the line of duty while serving overseas as a military police officer. She suffered skull and facial fractures as well as a spinal cord injury that left her without the use of her legs.

Since then, Gardner, a native of Lewiston, Maine has been through 22 surgeries. Her doctors gave her a three-page list of things she would never do again. “They said I'd never live alone or be independent,” Gardner said. “They said I wouldn't walk or ride a bike or even be able to bathe alone.”

But Gardner was on a mission. Beneath the shock and anguish, she was determined to live her life to the fullest, no matter the challenge.

“I'm highly competitive and there was no way I was going to settle for my wheelchair and sitting on the couch."

After years of physical and speech therapy, Gardner’s medical team decided it would be in her best interest to have her legs amputated. She had the left removed in the summer of 2015, and her right leg the next year.
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Man Charged After Attack on PTSD Veteran and Dog!

Wilton man accused of assaulting family member, veteran with PTSD
Central Maine
Lauren Abbate
Staff Writer
August 26, 2016

WILTON — A Wilton man was arrested twice this week for allegedly assaulting two elderly men who lived with him, including a family member and a veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Wilton Police Chief Heidi Wilcox said in published reports Thursday that both victims are dependent on care and have limited resources. She told the Lewiston Sun-Journal the veteran was been taken to a shelter.

She said that police were told the veteran’s dog was kicked across a room. She said the dog has been removed from the home until housing can be found for the owner.
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Maine Vietnam Memorial Right Next To Restrooms?

Local Vietnam veterans upset about restrooms next to Vietnam memorial
WAGM News
By Joey Prechtl
July 6, 2016

MADAWASKA, Maine (WAGM) - "What it represents to them is shame to their sons."

For Vietnam veteran Jack Meyers, he says the new restroom facility built adjacent to the memorial is a shame and a sign of disrespect to the fallen. This Vietnam memorial is hallowed ground he says and It's a statue to remember the ultimate sacrifice paid by the 21 men from the St. John Valley.

"We honored those families, those boys came back and they were dead. You can't change that. They gave their lives. Those families didn't have to give up those boys. The government gave up on us, and what now is the town of Madawaska giving up on us," Meyers said.

He co-founded the statue 20 years ago. He said he still remembers the emotions he felt the day it was unveiled to the Valley.

"It was amazing, and I felt like I had said thank you to my boys."

Town manager Ryan Pelletier said the town never meant to disrespect the veterans. The land is owned by the Diocese of Portland and the town is a tenant, so all permanent structures must be proposed and approved by the Diocese before construction. The local Parrish would only approve a location if it was okay with the neighbors of the park, and the neighbors rejected all other possible locations.
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Fallen Remembered On Stairway to Freedom

Stairway to Freedom: Remembering a Fallen Veteran 
WABI News 
Taylor Kinzler 
MAY 26, 2016

“We all have to deal with things of life in general. We have to take one step at a time.” Dixie Flag

As Memorial Day approaches, we pause to remember the men and women who work tirelessly to protect our country.

Every military family has a story.

In strong, a unique memorial is hidden beneath the woods to honor a fallen veteran.

A man who posthumously received the Purple Heart for his second and final tour overseas.

It’s called the Stairway to Freedom.

“Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down his life for his friends”

Dixie Flagg is the mom of a fallen veteran.

“Richard. No doubt. Think of him every day. He’s my rock.”

Sergeant Richard Parker was 26 years old when he was killed in Iraq by an IED. Just days after finding out he was going to be a father.

“Why do I want them to remember? I won’t let them forget.”‘

Flags and flowers surround his grave, next to a letter written by Keegan. The son he’ll never meet.

“His son is doing some of the things that Richard was known to do. I caught one the other day, just the way he said something and it was all Richard and Richard had never even met him.”

Just a few miles down the road is a symbol of hope, in the form of steps.
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Army Ranger Afghanistan Veteran Faces Charges Instead of Help He Needed

The DOD claims they are training troops in "prevention" and treating them properly when they do finally admit they need help. They claim to be helping them transition from Army life to the civilian world again. They make a lot of claims but this story pretty much sums up the fruits of their deeds when compared to their words.

You Will Know Them by Their Fruits 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits.

Mother of Maine vet who allegedly fired AK-47 around home, created police standoff says man suffers from PTSD
Bangor Daily News
By Tammy Wells, Journal Tribune
Posted May 25, 2016

ALFRED, Maine —Sometime soon — perhaps as early as Wednesday — a Shapleigh man charged with reckless conduct after allegedly shooting his AK-47 at his home Sunday will be transferred from York County Jail to a unit at Kennebec County Jail designed for veterans.

Former U.S. Army Ranger Robert Ferrera, 26, who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan with the 75th Ranger Regiment, has suffered from post traumatic stress disorder since he was discharged in 2012, said his mother, Donna Ferrera, in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Ferrera surrendered peacefully Sunday afternoon about 90 minutes after sheriff’s deputies were called to the family compound on Oak Hill Road, off Route 11.

Ferrera lives in a home on family property on the private road, while other family members live close by in a separate residence. A family member fled the property when Ferrera, upset about a living situation, went “out of control” and started shooting the gun inside and outside his home, according to the York County Sheriff ’s Department. The family member then summoned the sheriff ’s office. No one was injured.

Charged with reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon and violating conditions of a prior release, Ferrera is being held without bail on the latter charge.

His mother said Ferrera was injured in 2012, and was discharged shortly before his four-year hitch was up. He had joined the Army as a teenager.

“He went into the Army right out of school, when he was 18,” his mother said. “He wanted to be a Ranger.”

Looking back, Donna Ferrera says her son should have been medically discharged from his Army service, which would have, she said, made him automatically eligible for health care outside the Veterans Administration system. But, she said, that didn’t happen.

She said her son has been diagnosed by the VA with PTSD, along with other medical issues that stem from his service – including back problems and an injured arm that was operated on while he was still in the military and now requires surgery again.

Donna Ferrera believes there should be a transition program for veterans as they approach discharge back into civilian life.
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Iraq Veteran Abandoned By Maine Government Helped By Strangers

Donors pledge $20,000 to support veteran who was denied disability retirement
Bangor Daily News
By Beth Brogan, BDN Staff
May 18, 2016

Scott served in the Army Reserves with the 94th Military Police Company in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, for what would become the second-longest deployment of any U.S. military unit since World War II, including 15 months in combat zones such as the notoriously violent “Sunni Triangle.”

Courtesy of Sandra Mason. Scott and Darcie Couture with their two sons at Togus Pond, July 2005, the first summer after Scott returned from Iraq.

BRUNSWICK, Maine — Family, friends and soldiers who served with Iraq war veteran Scott Couture offered more than words of consolation when they learned in April that the Maine Public Employees Retirement System again denied disability retirement benefits he sought after post-traumatic stress disorder prompted him to leave his job as a Maine Marine Patrol warden.

But even as Scott and his wife, Darcie Couture, prepared to tell their two teenage sons that with mounting medical and legal bills, they couldn’t afford the mortgage on the old farmhouse they called home, Darcie’s brother launched a GoFundMe fundraiser that, as of Wednesday morning, has brought in nearly $21,000.

Last week, as the fund neared the $10,000 mark that triggered an anonymous matching donation, Darcie said they were overwhelmed though equally uncomfortable accepting the money.

“But to be perfectly honest, it will make the difference between us keeping the house [and not],” she said.

The Veterans Administration determined Scott is 80 percent disabled and provides him benefits. But in December 2014, the Maine Public Employees Retirement System, or MePERS, which Scott paid into as a marine patrol employee instead of Social Security, denied Scott’s application for retirement because of disability, despite acknowledging he suffers from PTSD.
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Iraq Veteran Proved PTSD to VA But Not Maine Public Employee System?

Maine retirement system again denies war veteran with PTSD
Bangor Daily News
By Beth Brogan, BDN Staff
Posted April 26, 2016

A Veterans Administration determined Couture is 80 percent disabled and provides him benefits, but in December 2014, the Maine Public Employees Retirement System, or MePERS, which Couture paid into as a Marine Patrol employee instead of Social Security, denied Couture’s application for retirement because of disability, despite acknowledging he suffers from PTSD.

BRUNSWICK, Maine — The Maine Public Employees Retirement System for a second time denied disability retirement benefits to a military veteran from Brunswick whose two tours in Iraq left him with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Scott Couture, an Iraq combat veteran formerly with the Maine Army Reserves, reflects on his service, Feb. 11, 2016, at his home in Brunswick.

Scott Couture, a former Maine Marine Patrol warden, was denied when he first applied for retirement system disability benefits after being told he could no longer work as a marine warden because of his condition. Couture appealed that decision, but that appeal was denied in a letter dated April 14 and received by Couture’s family Monday.

Couture will appeal the latest decision to a hearing officer, his wife, Darcie, said Monday. The decision devastated Scott, who declined to speak about the denial. The couple was preparing Monday night to tell their two teenage sons that they can’t afford to keep their house.

Scott Couture served in the Army Reserves with the 94th Military Police Company in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, for what would become the second longest deployment of any U.S. military unit since World War II, including 15 months in combat zones such as the notoriously violent “Sunni Triangle.”
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6,000 Enewetak Atoll Veterans Wait for Justice

Enewetak Atoll cleanup vets, facing cancer, hope long-shot 'atomic veteran' bill becomes law
Bangor Daily News, Maine
By Abigail Curtis
Published: April 3, 2016

Laird and Dean were among approximately 6,000 American soldiers tasked with rehabilitating the atoll between 1977 and 1980 before it was returned to the people of the Marshall Islands.

BANGOR, Maine (Tribune News Service) — Congress is considering a bill that would create a special “atomic veteran” designation for the men and women who worked to clean up nuclear waste from a South Pacific atoll nearly 40 years ago, a move that Maine veteran Paul Laird says was a long time coming.

But Laird, a 59-year-old from Otisfield who served with the U.S. Army’s 84th Engineer Battalion on Enewetak Atoll and who is a three-time cancer survivor, said that the bill has only a slim chance of becoming law — and that is not acceptable to him. As of now, only 30 co-sponsors have officially signed on to the bill, which is a number the Mainer said does not seem like enough.

“We are not seeing people jump up and down to get onboard,” he said earlier this month. “We’re a little disappointed. We’re trying however we can to get the word out, but people just don’t seem to think it’s very important.”
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Maine Legislators Try To Get Veterans Benefits They Earned

Let’s keep this positive momentum going for Maine’s veterans 
Bangor Daily News
By Robert Saucier and John Schneck, Special to the BDN
Posted March 27, 2016

Rep. John Schneck, D-BangorD-Bangor, is a Vietnam War-era
veteran who served in the U.S. Navy

Of the estimated 140,000 veterans in Maine, a staggering 76,500 are not enrolled with the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

As lawmakers and members of the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, we see the challenges that Maine’s service members often face when they return home to civilian life. As fellow veterans, we are committed to policies that help our fellow servicemen and servicewomen make that transition successfully. The Legislature will soon consider four measures resulting from the work of a special commission that took a hard look at how Maine is delivering services to our veterans. 

Rep. Robert Saucier
D-Presque Isle, is a veteran of the
U.S. Air Force who also served for
24 years in the Maine Army National
Guard, including as commander of
C Battery in Fort Kent and of
Headquarters Battery in Caribou. 

The slate of bills addresses investment in the Maine Bureau of Veterans’ Services as well as homelessness, transportation and higher education. The Commission to Strengthen and Align Services Provided to Maine’s Veterans brought together legislators of both parties, state officials and representatives of veterans of different ages and genders with the common goal of improving the lives of Maine veterans. It was created by legislation from Rep. Jared Golden, D-Lewiston, a Marine Corps veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan who has seen firsthand the needs of this generation. It’s clear that many of Maine’s veterans are falling through the cracks. The state Bureau of Veterans’ Services serves as a clearinghouse of available resources but lacks the resources it needs to keep up with the evolving needs of veterans. read more here

Veterans Families Foucus of "Those We Leave Behind" After Suicide

Turner filmmaker focuses on veteran suicide
Portland Press Herald
Ray Routhier Staff Writer
Marc 20, 2016

Because Roberts doesn’t want his film to be seen as exploiting their memories in anyway, he doesn’t want to name them. He has chosen not to ask the families for details about the suicides, saying, “The last thing I want to do is be a source of pain for the family.” But he described the men in general terms.

Iraq veteran Seth Roberts is a filmmaker working on a film dealing with PTSD, suicide, and other returning veteran issues. John Ewing/Staff Photographer

The first two phone calls that Seth Roberts received telling him two former Army comrades had taken their own lives left him stunned and upset.

Then came the third and fourth calls, within two months of each other. Those pushed Roberts to his emotional limits.

“It put me in a really bad place… contemplating taking my own life,” the 44-year-old from Turner said. “I was like ‘Where is this coming from? Who’s next?'”

Roberts, a photographer and filmmaker, decided to do something constructive in his friends’ memories. He has co-written and hopes to direct a Maine-based indie film called “Those We Leave Behind.” It’s a drama focusing on the story of an Army veteran who takes his own life, and the emotional havoc it wreaks on his wife and daughter.

The film has been written and cast with local actors. Now Roberts and his Maine filmmaking partners are trying to raise the $100,000 they say they need to make it. They hope to film in July all around Maine and eventually play the film at festivals and sell DVDs.

Roberts, whose two stints in the Army included a six-month deployment in Iraq, said he wants to make the film to bring attention to the national epidemic of veteran suicides. He feels the film could raise awareness of the struggles his friends faced and help other veterans and their families. read more here


**This is the part that too few reporters ever mention.

An estimated 18 to 22 veterans die by suicide daily, or about 8,000 in a year. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs started a national suicide prevention program in 2007 to try to deal with the problem. The actual number of suicides daily is likely higher than the estimates because those numbers are based on deaths involving people who were identified as veterans and whose cause of death was clearly suicide, said Mark Lawless, the department’s lead suicide prevention coordinator for New England, based in West Haven, Connecticut.

Some veterans who take their own lives might not have been getting services from VA facilities, and therefore they are harder to identify as veterans. Some might have died of medication overdoses or in a single-vehicle accident, causes not always ruled suicide.

Dream Wedding May Happen For Soldier After 28 Years!

Fort Bragg soldier, fiancee a step closer to fairy tale wedding
Fay Observer
By Drew Brooks Military editor
Updated 9 hrs ago Comments

Fort Bragg Sgt. Maj. Jeff LeMaster and Piper Cronin, a PE teacher in Maine are competing in a competition to win a 100,000 wedding from Real Maine Weddings magazine.

Jeff LeMaster and Piper Cronin have a love story that's nearly 30 years in the making.

Now, the two are a step closer to possibly having a fairy tale wedding, too.

LeMaster, a Fort Bragg sergeant major, and Cronin, a physical education teacher in Maine, are finalists to win a wedding package valued at more than $100,000 from Real Maine Weddings magazine.

The two met in 1988 but were torn apart by the constant moves of Army life. They rekindled their relationship in recent years.

Speaking by phone from Fort Bragg and Maine this week, the two said having each other now makes the long wait worth it.

They're one of three finalists for the wedding package at Real Maine Weddings. The winners are expected to be announced this weekend.

The winner will be determined based on popular vote and on the selection of participating vendors, according to officials. Online voting ends today at midnight.
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Maine Veterans Plead For Help With Fake Service Dogs

'There are no requirements': Service dog misrepresentation a growing problem 

Veterans plead for fakers to stop as task force looks into issue 
WMTV News 
By David Charns 
UPDATED 6:11 PM EST Feb 25, 2016

PORTLAND, Maine —The misrepresentation of service dogs in Maine has become such a large issue that the Legislature tasked a panel to find a way to resolve it.

"I said he's not a pet, he's a service dog,” Christopher Henry, of Auburn, said. “’And he then asked me, "for what?’”

It’s just one time someone has asked Henry if his service dog, Brewsky, is legitimate. The 17-year-old combat veteran has post-traumatic stress disorder. Brewsky is there to keep Henry calm and keep strangers a good distance away.

"We're hearing about it all the time,” said Jennifer Norris, of Bethel. Norris, a 15-year veteran, is a sexual assault survivor and her dog, Onyx, helps her with her PTSD.

Both dogs underwent rigorous training. Their owners said the animals keep them from isolating, something they said is common with veterans with PTSD.

"She helped pulled me out of the deepest darkest depression I've ever been in my life,” Morris said.

But some Mainers are faking it.
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Maine Veteran Family Warns of "Silent Tidal Wave" of PTSD

War won’t let go: PTSD bedevils Maine family 
Bangor Daily News 
Midcoast 
By Beth Brogan, BDN Staff Posted 
Feb. 16, 2016

The 94th Military Police Company in Ramadi, Iraq, Christmas 2003.

Darcie said she worries that Scott is one drop in “a silent tidal wave” of Mainers who served in Iraq, then came home to find that the services they need aren’t there. “I don’t think people recognize the full measure of the cost that veterans have paid and their families and us,” she said. 

BRUNSWICK, Maine — Scott Couture joined the Army Reserves in 1999 because it was the right thing to do for his country — and for his family. 

With one young son and another on the way, enlisting in a military police unit seemed like both “a good deal” and a relatively safe way to get serious about supporting a growing family. At the time, the 94th Military Police Company hadn’t been deployed since the first Gulf War. 

But after the fall of Baghdad three years later, everything changed. Scott, a Maine Marine Patrol officer, kissed his wife, Darcie, and their two boys, then headed for war. 

The 94th arrived in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, in April 2003 for what would become the second-longest deployment of any unit since World War II, including 15 months in combat zones such as the notoriously violent “Sunni Triangle.” 

After returning from Iraq, Scott suffered from irritability, depression and insomnia and was eventually diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. It cost him his job as an officer for the Maine Marine Patrol, which enforces laws and leads search-and-rescue missions on the state’s waters. 

PTSD also has caused perhaps irreparable damage to Scott’s relationship with Darcie and their two teenage sons. It may still cost the family their beloved farmhouse on the outskirts of Brunswick — depending on whether the Maine Public Employees Retirement System overturns an initial decision to deny Scott disability retirement benefits

They battled dysentery from open latrines, dehydration because of rationed water, 132-degree heat and the maddening sandflies. Reservists drove unarmored Humvees and wore regular flak vests rather than full ballistic vests issued to special forces soldiers. read more here

Congress Didn't Plan Veterans Choice Program

Program to hasten veterans’ care poorly implemented, Maine advocates say
Portland Press Herald
BY STEVE MISTLER STAFF WRITER
January 30, 2016

Health Net Inc. is one of the program managers cited in the report. It’s also the company charged with managing the Veterans Choice program in Maine and New England.

A report released Thursday shows that a 2014 program designed to reduce wait times has left half the qualifying veterans without medical appointments.

AUGUSTA — Advocates for Maine veterans said Friday that the rush to implement a $10 billion federal program designed to shorten wait times for veterans seeking medical care is contributing to delayed care, unbooked doctor appointments and billing errors.

“It was doomed for failure before it even hit the streets,” said Gary Laweryson, a retired Marine from Waldoboro who is chairman of the Maine Veterans Coordinating Committee.

There have been a number of reports in Maine and other states that the 2014 Veterans Choice health program is not working as intended. Those complaints, once anecdotal, were validated Thursday in a report produced by the VA Maine Healthcare System showing that only half of the 4,300 veterans who applied for care under the 2014 Veterans Choice program had received appointments since July.

The report was presented to veterans advocates and staff for the state’s congressional delegation during an unannounced meeting held at the VA’s Togus campus. The meeting has prompted urgent calls from Maine’s delegation to reform the program.

However, veterans advocates say the program was hastily conceived and carelessly implemented. Those assertions are supported by a U.S. Veterans Health Administration Office of Inspector General report issued in September.

Amedeo Lauria, a service officer for the American Legion at Togus, said veterans are having a difficult time just getting a call returned from a hotline provided by the choice program. On Thursday, Health Net said a call center in Tampa, Florida, was set up for 500 employees. Only 130 have been hired.
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Woman Pleads Guilty Taking VA Benefits of Dead Widow

Portland woman pleads guilty to receiving dead roommate’s veterans benefits
Press Herald
Scott Dolan
Staff Writer
January 8, 2016

Tammy J. McKenney, 49, held a joint account into which the benefits were deposited.

A Portland woman pleaded guilty Friday to a federal charge of stealing more than $25,000 in Veterans Administration benefits intended for her roommate after her roommate had died.

Tammy J. McKenney, 49, who also has a listed address in Gray, appeared before Judge D. Brock Hornby in U.S. District Court in Portland and waived her right to have the case against her presented to a grand jury.

McKenney and her friend, Barbara Winter, opened a joint bank account in September 2001. Winter received direct deposits from the Veterans Administration, which she began receiving as a spouse of a military veteran after her husband died in 1989, according to a prosecution document in court records.
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Man Facing Charges After PTSD Service Dog Killed

Man arrested in connection with hit-and-run that killed service dog 
Jesse Gosselin arrested Monday
WMTV News
By Jim Keithley
Dec 08, 2015

Sophie had protected and helped Drake cope with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder for the last seven years.

BERWICK, Maine —A Dover, New Hampshire, man was arrested Monday in connection with a hit-and-run that killed a service dog in Berwick on Saturday.

Berwick police said they received a tip about a tan 1999 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight matching the description of the vehicle involved in an accident that had killed a 7-year-old service dog at a home on Cranberry Meadow Road in Berwick.

When police went to the home, they said the car showed signs of a fairly recent minor accident.

Police arrested Jesse Gosselin, 23, of Dover, and charged him with leaving the scene of a property damage accident and operating a motor vehicle after license had been suspended.
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Veteran's service dog killed in hit-and-run

Family of PTSD Veteran Can Sue After Police Shooting

Judge allows lawsuit against Maine officer who killed veteran to go forward
Bangor Daily News
By Judy Harrison, BDN Staff
Posted Oct. 06, 2015

PORTLAND, Maine — A federal judge has ruled that an excessive force lawsuit over the death of a troubled Army veteran may go forward but only against the officer, not the police chief or the town of Farmington.

The parents of a veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder who was shot and killed nearly four years ago in front of the Farmington police station filed a wrongful death and civil rights lawsuit in 2013 against the town, Police Chief Jack Peck, and Ryan Rosie, the officer who shot and killed Justin Michael Crowley-Smilek on Nov. 19, 2011.

The Maine attorney general’s office in May 2012 found that Rosie was justified in shooting Crowley-Smilek, 26, of Farmington. The report said that Rosie took cover behind a police cruiser after Crowley-Smilek ignored demands that he take his hands out of his pockets. Rosie fired after the veteran took a butcher knife out of his pocket and charged at the officer.

The lawsuit, filed in November 2013 in federal court in Portland by Hunter Tzovarras, the Bangor attorney representing Crowley-Smilek’s parents, claimed that the veteran went to the Farmington police station the day he was killed to ask for help “regarding mental health services.”
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Two Presidents Watch Wounded Veteran From Florida Drops and Give Diamond

2 ex-presidents witness wounded veteran’s marriage proposal 
Washington Times
By - Associated PressTuesday, August 11, 2015

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine (AP) - A soldier who was badly wounded in Afghanistan has proposed to his girlfriend in Maine while two former presidents looked on.

George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and their first ladies watched as retired Army Spc. Tyler Jeffries proposed to Lauren Lilly at the Bush summer home in Kennebunkport. The elder Bush tweeted his congratulations, wishing them “a lifetime of joy together.”

Jeffries is from Florida. He lost his legs in an explosion in 2012. Two friends helped him drop to a prosthetic knee to propose on Monday.
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Life At Home After Combat Hardest Part

‘You feel so isolated’: Maine veteran talks about life at home after 2 tours 
Bangor Daily News
By Nok-Noi Ricker, BDN Staff
Posted May 15, 2015

“When you’re back, you feel so isolated. You’re suddenly tossed out of your element,” he said. “You have to come home and adjust. If you don’t have somebody there who understands all the time, it’s difficult to get by.”

Robin Aston
Army Reserve Spc. David Aston (center) returned home from Iraq
with the 94th Military Police Company, trained in Saco, in 2011.
In the photo with Aston are fellow reservists from southern Maine,
Branden Winkel (left) and Ben Johnson.

ORONO, Maine — When former Army Reserve Spc. David T. Aston II, a 2009 Bangor High School graduate, left on his second overseas tour, he thought coming home would be a breeze.

It wasn’t.

“I thought it would be easy,” he said Wednesday in the hallway of Wells Commons during the fifth annual conference of the Maine Military & Community Network. “It was much more difficult.”

He left Maine for the first time in 2010 with the 94th Military Police Company, an Army Reserve unit based in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and was deployed to Iraq to protect Outpost Muthana, a small post at the old Baghdad municipal airport.

Then he deployed again in 2013 with the 344th Military Police Company for a year in Afghanistan’s Parwan province, where he spent time training the Afghan army.

Both were dangerous jobs.

Serving overseas two times was difficult, but “the transition back is the hardest part,” recalled Aston, who received his discharge papers Thursday, completing his time in the service.

Living in constant danger takes its toll, he said.

Department of Veterans Affairs psychologist Dr. Jonathan Shay, who specializes in combat trauma, talked to veterans and other attendees about community reintegration after combat. Dr. Richard Lumb gave a presentation about ways to remain resilient after facing trauma. Pentagon Cmdr. Brent Embry talked about forging alliances between the military and community, and Joan Hunter, assistant surgeon general, talked about programs that support behavioral health.

There also were others on hand to talk about equine therapy for veterans, science-based natural therapies and other veteran resources.
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Troop Greeters Honor Vietnam Veterans

Maine Troop Greeters to honor Vietnam War veterans 
WCSH 6 News
Portland Katharine Bavoso, WLBZ
April 21, 2015

"Somebody had to say it. Then, they didn't. So we're saying it now. Welcome home," said Troop Greeter and Vietnam era veteran, Jerry Lyden.

Vietnam era vets to be honored decades later (Photo: NEWS CENTER)

BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- When troops returned home from the Vietnam War, they were often faced with negativity and anger instead of the hero's greeting returning troops are given today. The Maine Troop Greeters want to make up for that lack of thanks.

The Troop Greeters announced Tuesday that they will be holding a Welcome Home Vietnam Era Veterans celebration to give Maine Vietnam Veterans the welcome home they never received.

It's a collaborative effort by the Troop Greeters as well as the City of Bangor, the Bangor International Airport, the Maine Bureau of Veterans Services and the Cross Insurance Center.

The event is part of a 10 year nationwide program to welcome home Vietnam Veterans from all over the country. According to the Troop Greeters, there are 44,000 Vietnam Veterans in Maine.

April marks 40 years since the Vietnam War ended in 1975.

"It's a responsibility that we should finally try to make make things right or make amends," said Maine Troop Greeter and event organizer, Nory Jones.
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