Showing posts with label New Hampshire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Hampshire. Show all posts

Sunday, April 21, 2019

New Hampshire Airman's death under investigation in Qatar

NH Airman dies overseas in non-combat incident


WMUR
Cherise Leclerc
April 20, 2019

The Department of Defense says Staff Sgt. Albert J. Miller, of Richmond, has died overseas.

Miller died on April 19th at the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in a non-combat related incident.

He was assigned to the 736th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and was supporting Operation Freedom’s Sentinel.

Miller was 24 years old.

An investigation into the cause of his death is ongoing
go here for updates

Sunday, August 26, 2018

Combat Nurse told she cannot use service in Fallujah and Afghanistan?

Congressional candidates' military service records under attack
By KEVIN LANDRIGAN
New Hampshire Union Leader
August 26. 2018
...State Rep. Sean Morrison, R-Hampton, formed the Veterans Caucus in the New Hampshire Legislature after joining the Army National Guard at 30 and making combat deployments to Iraq.

"The 'combat proven' thing seemed to me to be close to stolen valor," said Morrison, who is supporting state Rep. and Air Force veteran Steve Negron of Nashua in the GOP primary.

"That means you were in direct combat with the enemy and you acted appropriately. I don't think anyone should be separating and holding themselves up on a pedestal as veterans."

A clearly upset Blankenbeker said Friday that Morrison and others who share his views should be "ashamed of themselves."
Maura Sullivan was a Marine captain in Iraq.
"I was a combat nurse in a combat hospital in a combat zone caring for combat casualties while the hospital took on an average of 18 mortar attacks in a given day," Blankenbeker said of her time in Afghanistan's violent Kandahar province during 2010-11.
Dan Helmer is the vice chairman of VoteVets, another liberal group supporting veteran candidates.

"Maura Sullivan served in Fallujah, Iraq, an incredibly dangerous area of operations where numerous Marines died, including female service members," Helmer said. "Women in combat zones often don't get the recognition they deserve and we're shocked that anyone would call into question the sacrifices Maura and other female leaders made for our country."

Blankenbeker remembers when the Afghan terrorist threat came into her Kandahar hospital treatment room.

"I cared for a woman; she was an Afghan patient. I was cutting her clothes off in a combat zone and she had a wire harness on her for an explosive," Blankenbeker said. "I had to hold that explosive device in my hand until we could get her sedated on morphine. Is that combat proven?"
read more here

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc not suffering PTSD in silence

Still think you have to suffer in silence? Well, it looks like another General has come forward to speak about PTSD. 
"However, there is a price to pay when you are “Captain America.” For Gen. Bolduc the matter of PTSD is a personal one. One of his most courageous acts was to publicly acknowledge he struggles every day with PTSD"
How many Medal of Honor recipients have to talk about their own battles with PTSD, before you understand there is nothing to be ashamed of? How many Generals have to talk about their battles, after a lifetime of battles in uniform, before you understand what courage looks like?

Ever wonder they they come forward and talk openly about something they never have to say a word about? Do they need publicity? Do they want to play "victim" and get people to feel sorry for them? Hell no! THEY DO IT TO SAVE THE LIVES OF THOSE THEY WOULD HAVE DIED FOR!

If you still haven't gotten the message yet, the keep reading about "Captain America" Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc.

‘Everyone’s General’ returns home with a mission
Fosters.com
Jeff Childester
February 23, 2018

One the truest statements you can make about a hero is that they would be the last person to describe themselves as such. Aside from a hero’s devotion to service above self, a hero’s second most endearing quality is their humility. However, as a society it is important for us to appreciate those people we know to be heroes.

One such person is New Hampshire’s own Brig. Gen. Donald Bolduc. After 32 years of service to our country, a native son has returned home.

Out of his uniform, and knowing nothing about his impressive military pedigree, some might suggest Gen. Bolduc was unimposing. But that is merely another distinguishing feature of a hero, their uncanny capacity to appear normal, to look like the “common man.” That is because when you get down to it, most heroes look nothing like the Hollywood actors that portray them on film. They are in every essence, everyday people, which is reinforced in the case of Gen. Bolduc when you consider many who served with him dubbed him “Everyone’s General.” I have no doubt that if you were to ask Gen. Bolduc the one thing he is most proud of (regarding his military services), being called “Everyone’s General” would be near the top of that list.

Gen. Bolduc is not that much different from many of us, except for one conspicuous attribute, his devotion to duty. He is the embodiment of all those that have faithfully served this country, and still do so today. Our military heroes live beyond the spotlight, humble in the knowledge that they sacrificed much in the service of our nation. For as proud as Gen. Bolduc must be when he is referred to “Everyone’s General,” he also must carry the weight of his other nickname, “Captain America.”
read more here


Saturday, January 27, 2018

New Hampshire Hospital for the mentally ill is prison?

Families, Advocates Speak Out Against the Secure Psychiatric Unit at NH Men’s Prison
InDepthNH.org
Written by Nancy West
January 26, 2018

CONCORD — Two mothers told lawmakers their daughters are harassed, humiliated, and sometimes “locked down” at the Secure Psychiatric Unit at the New Hampshire Prison for Men, and a former patient recounted nearly dying as his pleas for emergency medical care were ignored.

The Secure Psychiatric Unit has stirred controversy because mentally ill people are held there if they haven’t committed a crime, but are considered too dangerous to be housed at the New Hampshire Hospital for the mentally ill.

At SPU, civilly committed patients who were found not guilty by reason of insanity and not competent to stand trial are commingled with convicted criminals who are mentally ill in a 60-bed unit on the grounds of the men’s prison. Presently, three women and one person who is transitioning from male to female, are housed in the unit on the prison campus with about 1,400 men.

“My daughter has been in SPU (Secure Psychiatric Unit) for three years,” said Cindy Glazier. “I can visit on weekends. That’s it. It’s a prison setting, not a psychiatric unit. It’s not for patients. She’s treated like a prisoner and it’s not set up as a hospital.

Glazier’s daughter, Patina Welch, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in 2015 to jumping out a second-story window in Lyman holding her 4-month-old boy-girl twins, killing her son and injuring her daughter the summer before. Welch told police she was trying to save them from armed intruders.

The prosecutor at the time said there was clear and convincing evidence that Welch suffered from a mental disease or defect. Welch was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorder.
read more here

Sunday, December 24, 2017

All Veterans Want is Promise Keepers, Not Bumblers

Promise Keepers or Bumblers?
Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
December 24, 2017

Looks like Santa just may have his hands full of coal for every member of Congress! When you think that this bunch just managed to pull off a Bill to fund the futures of billionaires and millionaires, these same folks didn't use that same energy for our veterans.

(Guess they also forgot that the majority of our veterans are in fact on Social Security and Medicare, also facing cuts.)

AP reported that, "NH veterans want more, better medical services" and that is true. The thing is, they wanted what was promised to them on the day they became "Veteran" instead of civilian. What part of that do people not get? They are not civilians!


The Manchester VA is the subject of this report, however, it is the same story all across the country.

"Veterans offered a long list of services they felt could be provided by the Manchester center, with many seeing the need for additional mental health and substance abuse services at a time when the state is struggling with an opioid crisis and military personal are returning home."
When anyone talks about sending veterans into the mess the rest of us deal with, they are blinded by the need for fast fix. What they fail to see is that Congress has had the responsibility of providing for our veterans since 1946.  


Jurisdiction of the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
  1. Veterans' measures generally.
  2. Pensions of all the wars of the U.S., general and special.
  3. Life insurance issued by the government on account of service in the Armed Forces.
  4. Compensation, vocational rehabilitation, and education of veterans.
  5. Veterans' hospitals, medical care, and treatment of veterans.
  6. Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief.
  7. Readjustment of servicemen to civilian life.
  8. National Cemeteries.
Whatever is wrong with the care our veterans receive after all these years is because Congress failed to deliver on their end of the deal.

Veterans did their jobs. When does Congress?


Sunday, December 17, 2017

Last Homeless Vets Leave Veteran Resort Chapel

Last year I was in New Hampshire and met Peter MacDonaldHe was standing by one of his Tiny Homes for homeless veterans. 

Very sad to see how this story turned out for the veterans he wanted to help.


Three evicted from Veteran Resort Chapel in Lee

post Fosters Seacoast Online
John Doyle
December 15, 2017

LEE — Three homeless veterans were scheduled on Friday to vacate the Veteran Resort Chapel that has been the subject of litigation with the town.
Peter Macdonald, the founder and president of the chapel, said he received verbal notice from the town that the residents had to be out by Friday, though he never received any formal eviction notice from the town.
Macdonald said he adhered to Friday’s deadline because he didn’t want the chapel’s three residents, all homeless combat veterans, to be “caught off guard” when official notice eventually arrives. Macdonald said he notified the chapel residents about the evictions in late November.
Of the three veterans, according to Macdonald, one is scheduled to move into an apartment in Hampton, one will live with a family member and another, whom Macdonald said suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome, did not have a place to go as of Friday morning.
“He’s probably going to wind up living in the woods in his car again,” Macdonald said. “That’s where he lived before, the woods.”
read more here

Saturday, December 16, 2017

PTSD Service Dog Stolen From Iraq Veteran

UPDATE

Police: Dog custody fight led to felony

New Hampshire Union Leader

Shawne K. Wickham

January 12, 2018

Two weeks before a Concord woman reported that her dog had been stolen during an assault, police say she and her husband had grabbed the very same dog from relatives in Manchester who claim that Jax the pitbull is theirs.


Now Christopher McCall faces a felony charge for allegedly assaulting his sister during that Dec. 1 incident, at one point driving off with her on the hood of his vehicle.

On Thursday, McCall, 36, appeared in a Manchester courtroom, where he waived arraignment for felony reckless conduct and domestic simple assault, a misdemeanor.

He and his wife, Ashley McCall, declined to talk with a reporter after the brief appearance in Hillsborough County Superior Court North. “We really have to go,” Ashley McCall said, walking away.

Meanwhile, Concord police say they are not charging anyone in connection with a Dec. 14 incident in which Ashley McCall, a military veteran, said she had been knocked to the ground outside her apartment by a man who then grabbed Jax and fled in a vehicle.

Both Ashley and Christopher McCall posted about that incident on social media, prompting outrage and sympathy from dog lovers across New Hampshire and beyond. They did not mention that they suspected their relatives had taken the dog, and the dognapping was widely shared on social media, even prompting a crowdfunding effort.

However, Concord police soon characterized the incident as a “custody battle.” 

read more here

Iraq War vet pleas for return of stolen service dog in Concord, N.H.

WHDH News
Alex DiPrato
December 15, 2017


CONCORD, N.H. (WHDH) — An Iraq War veteran in Concord, New Hampshire said she was attacked by a man who then stole her service dog.

Ashley McCall said she had just put her 3-year-old pit bull, Jax, in her car after taking him for a walk. She was about to go run some errands when she said a man approached her and started asking her questions about Jax.
“He starts asking me questions about what kind of dog he was, what his name was and then wanted to see the dog. And I told him, I really need to get going,” said McCall.
McCall said the man then reached for her car’s door handle and opened it. McCall said she shut the door and he shoved her onto the ground. The suspect then grabbed Jax and got into an awaiting silver Ford Focus. McCall said the man then threw Jax’s service vest and leash out of the car before taking off.
“I’m screaming at him, this is my dog, what are you doing, you can’t do this! He just takes off,” said McCall.
read more here

Monday, December 4, 2017

New Hampshire Homeless Veterans in Tiny Homes Being Evicted

update Retired Marine who Fought to House Homeless Vets Has Died


Foster's Daily Democrat, Dover, N.H. 
By Kyle Stucker 
October 6, 2019 

Veterans and loved ones laid Peter Macdonald to rest this week, one week after the 67-year-old succumbed to metastatic esophageal cancer and service-related disabilities. Macdonald is best remembered as a local advocate for veterans, drawing from his own life experiences to shelter homeless veterans at his Veteran Resort Chapel in Lee, New Hampshire. read it here


Homeless veterans being evicted from Veteran Resort Chapel in Lee

Union Leader
Kimberley Haas
December 3, 2018


LEE - Homeless combat veterans are being evicted from Veteran Resort Chapel in Lee.

There are still three homeless combat veterans living at Veteran Resort Chapel in Lee after eviction notices went out last week. (Kimberley Haas/Sunday News file photo)

Proprietor Peter Macdonald, a Marine, said he needs to sell the property to pay his legal costs. Macdonald was fined $70,675 last month by Judge Mark Howard at Strafford County Superior Court because he violated town regulations and continued to add tiny homes on his property at 101 Stepping Stones Road. The post-judgment attachment on the property is payable within three months, according to court documents.

Macdonald said Friday he also is on the hook for about $25,000 in legal fees to reimburse lawyers who argued against him in civil court.

The 8-by-10-foot structures on Macdonald's property do not have septic systems, and the town's attorney, Justin Pasay, said Macdonald does not have building, electrical or plumbing permits for the units.

read more here

Saturday, August 26, 2017

New Hampshire AG Shuts Down Veterans Charity

Police Open Probe Into VetCare

Valley News
Rob Wolfe
August 26, 2017
The attorney general said some of Project VetCare’s leaders had diverted money to pay for a range of personal purposes, including a cruise vacation, a heating system for the executive director’s home, and loans and stipends for directors and their relatives.Robert Chambers, co-founder of Project VetCare, was among those named in the report. The investigation found that he used the organization’s fund to pay for a Toyota van and that his daughter had received a stipend payment.
Hanover — The Hanover Police Department says it has opened a criminal investigation into the veterans aid group Project VetCare stemming from a report that some of the organization’s directors took money for personal expenses.
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office on Thursday announced that the Hanover-based nonprofit would close and that officials involved in the misuse of the organization’s funds had agreed to repay some of the money.
Officials at area veterans groups on Friday expressed concern that news about Project VetCare’s improprieties could hurt their own efforts.
The state’s Charitable Trusts Unit, which oversees New Hampshire charities, investigated the organization and discovered “diversion of large sums of money for the benefit of the charity’s executive director, her family, an employee and some members of the board of directors,” the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said in a statement on Thursday.
State officials have passed their findings to Grafton County Attorney Lara Saffo, who said on Friday that Hanover police had begun a probe.

Sunday, July 30, 2017

Homeland Heroes Providing Comfort When They Come Home

A HERO'S WELCOME


Organization provides comforts of home to those who serve the country


Eagle Tribune

Breanna Edelstein
July 30, 2017

"We meet the vet wherever they are in life. Whatever we can do, we do. And if we can't, we find someone who can." Julie Weymouth
Ryan Hutton/Staff photo
Homeland Heroes Foundation Executive Director Julie Weymouth sits at her desk in Hudson warehouse.
"Weymouth in 2012 started her effort with a trip to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where she sat down with a chaplain and asked for some direction."


SALEM, N.H. — The Royer family watched the black faux-leather couch in their Rochester living room slowly dip and sag for a decade without being able to afford a new one.
Several weeks ago, they finally lugged it out of their home when they were given a new one, along with other free housewares, thanks to widespread community support for a local organization dedicated to helping active-duty military personnel, veterans and their loved ones.
Julie Weymouth, executive director of the Homeland Heroes Foundation of Salem, has seen the scenario play out hundreds of times since she helped start the nonprofit back in 2012. For a variety of reasons including financial hardship, emotional struggles and other circumstances, many who have served their country find themselves in need after returning home. So, too, do families while a loved one is deployed. 
Several tours to Afghanistan had taken a toll on Jeremy Royer, 37, a U.S. Army Veteran. The father and husband spent significant time on the aging living-room sofa, struggling with the residual effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, night terrors and unshakably aching joints.
Finances already were tight when his 37-year-old wife, Miranda, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma last fall. Doctors said the football-sized mass in her chest was encroaching quickly on her heart, and she'd need to fight for her life.
read more here

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Doctors Warn Manchester VA is Endangering Patients

UPDATE
Stars and Stripes July 17. 2017
"WASHINGTON — The director and chief of staff of the VA hospital in Manchester, N.H., have been removed from their posts following a news report of dirty conditions, long patient wait times and substandard care, Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin announced Sunday."

At a four-star veterans’ hospital: Care gets ‘worse and worse’
Boston Globe
By Jonathan Saltzman and Andrea Estes, Globe Staff
July 15, 2017

So far, 11 physicians and medical employees — including the hospital’s retiring chief of medicine, former chief of surgery, and former chief of radiology — have contacted a federal whistle-blower agency and the Globe Spotlight Team to say the Manchester VA is endangering patients.
MANCHESTER, N.H. — This is what the US Department of Veterans Affairs says a four-star hospital looks like:

One operating room has been abandoned since last October because exterminators couldn’t get rid of the flies. Doctors had to cancel surgeries in another OR last month after they discovered what appeared to be rust or blood on two sets of surgical instruments that were supposedly sterile.

Thousands of patients, including some with life-threatening conditions, struggle to get any care at all because the program for setting up appointments with outside specialists has broken down. One man still hadn’t gotten an appointment to see an oncologist this spring, more than four weeks after a diagnosis of lung cancer, according to a hospital document obtained by the Globe.

Remarkably, leaders of the Manchester VA have confirmed many of the problems, from the fly-infested operating room — “an episodic issue,” said one administrator — to thousands of patients waiting indefinitely for specialist care, which the leaders blamed on the private company hired by the federal government to set up veterans’ appointments outside the hospital. read more here


But as Congress has a habit of doing, they just talk about fixing the VA. When you read this part, be prepared to grab your head first. It will explode like mine did!
“They ignored him basically for 20 years and allowed this thing to grow and grow and grow,” said Abramson, who recently wrote the VA in Manchester and in Boston that his client intends to sue for negligence.

And as for the VA, this is the statement that came into my email.
VA Announces Immediate Actions at Manchester VA Medical Center
07/16/2017 04:55 PM EDT


WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs David J. Shulkin, M.D., announced actions the department is taking immediately to respond to whistleblower concerns at the Manchester, New Hampshire, VA Medical Center (VAMC) detailed in an article in today’s Boston Globe.

The VA Office of the Medical Inspector and the VA Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection are being sent in beginning Monday to conduct a top-to-bottom review of the Manchester VAMC, including all allegations in the article.

In addition, effective immediately, the department has removed the director and chief of staff at the facility, pending the outcome of the review.

Alfred Montoya, the director of the VAMC in White River Junction, Vermont, will serve as the new director of the Manchester VAMC and the new chief of staff will be announced shortly.

Dr. Shulkin said, “These are serious allegations, and we want our Veterans and our staff to have confidence in the care we’re providing. I have been clear about the importance of transparency, accountability and rapidly fixing any and all problems brought to our attention, and we will do so immediately with these allegations.”

Monday, July 3, 2017

You Could Be in the Hands of Contractors and Not Know It

Reminder, if you still want to blame the VA employees for all that is wrong, but the press usually won't tell you, here is something from Peter Biello a reporter in New Hampshire "VA Hospitals Step in as Federal Program Hits Growing Pains"
The federal government hires a third-party contractor to do some of that appointing now. Health Net is who that company is now, though I think that could change. Is it fair to the Manchester VA have employees do some of this work, especially since Health Net is in theory supposed to be doing it already?
Manchester VA Assistant Director Kevin Forest answered,
"We already do a lot of that work. Choice isn’t the only program we use to provide care to veterans in the community. We coordinate care for veterans who receive care at other VAs, we coordinate care for veterans who receive care out in the local area hospitals, and we work closely with Health Net now to make sure veterans receive appointments through their provider network."
Then again, if you think any of this is new, would be good for reporters to also remind you that veterans have had to fight the government since they started fighting for the government. 

On June 17, 1783, Congress received a message from soldiers of the Continental Army stationed in Philadelphia, which demanded payment for their service during the American Revolutionary War. The soldiers threatened to take action that day if their complaints were not addressed. Congress ignored their message, but the soldiers did not act on their threat. Two days later, however, the Congress received word that a group of about 80 soldiers had left their post at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of Philadelphia, and had joined with the soldiers stationed at the city barracks. The group of approximately 500 men had effective control over the weapons stores and munition depot.[2]

Sunday, July 2, 2017

Clergy Get Schooled on How to Help Veterans Come Home

I am part of Point Man International and while this article says for members of the clergy "it is not usual for them to be one-on-one" that is exactly the best way to do it.

It is not posting on Facebook. It is giving face time. It is not using a cellphone to text back and forth, but using it to talk to someone so you can hear the sound of their voice and know there is compassion there, as well as knowledge. It is not doing push-ups but helping them push the pain away. It is not taking a walk to get attention for something you haven't even bothered to understand, but standing by their side and helping them find the way to take control of their lives back.

PTSD is complicated. Suicide is complicated. Helping them heal takes a lot out of us but what we get back is priceless. As long as people seem so satisfied with what we're doing, nothing will ever change.

If you are going to church this morning, share this with your clergy and elders. They need to do what has been working for over 3 decades.

Clergy training designed to help NH veterans reintegrate

Union Leader
Sunday News Correspondent 

LACONIA - Returning veterans are getting some help from above. 
"Clergy are typically on the front lines of helping veterans and it is not usual for them to be one-on-one dealing with specific issues. This event will help give clergy who don't have any direct connection with the military a better understanding of what vets are facing when they return from deployment," said Heilshorn.

Veterans display their colors during the annual Freedom Ride and Vigil at Hesky Park in Meredith during Motorcycle Week. (Bea Lewis/Sunday News Correspondent) 

Genesis Behavioral Health and the Veterans Administration are partnering to train clergy to recognize the challenges faced today by servicemen and women, active or retired.

The challenges of reintegration, coupled with issues that may be linked to their service, can result in problems that go unrecognized or develop slowly over time, said Ann Nichols, director of Development and Public Relations for GBH.

"Our role is to teach clergy and designated lay people how to play such an important role. It's a really nice partnership with the VA to have the opportunity to be able to do this," Nichols said.


"The military culture is so ingrained in our soldiers and competes with other things we know in life it doesn't surprise me that there are challenges. It's important to remove the stigma and to be able to have a positive impact on veterans and their families."


Approximately 115,000 veterans live in New Hampshire. A third are from the Vietnam Era, and more than 48 percent are 65 years of age or older, compared with 15 percent of the civilian population. The second largest group of veterans is from the Gulf Wars, with more than 7,000 coming from post-9/11 service. Only 30,000 of the 115,000 use the VA Medical Center, according to the state Bureau of Community Based Military Programs.read more here 

Monday, February 20, 2017

New Hampshire Army Ranger Shot by Other Soldier Receives Outpouring of Support

Over $20,000 raised in 1 day for NH soldier shot by fellow Army ranger
NH1.com
February 18, 2017

HUDSON - There has been an outpouring of support from the community after a soldier from New Hampshire was shot in the neck by another Army ranger earlier this week.
A GoFundMe page for Joshua Keller has already collected more than $20,000. He was accidentally shot in Washington, and the other solider is facing charges.

His father Matt Keller spoke with NH1 News earlier in the week. He said his family has been in Washington since Sunday to be with their son.
read more here

Solider from NH shot by fellow Army ranger, in critical condition
The Associated Press
February 14, 2017

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — An Army ranger from the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state has been charged with shooting a fellow soldier, who remains in critical condition.

The Olympian reports that Spc. Thomas Patrick Popek was arraigned in court Monday on an assault charge. The 23-year-old victim from Hudson, N.H., is in critical condition and unable to breath on his own.
read more here

Thursday, January 12, 2017

New Hampshire Veteran Overwhelmed by Community

After article, contractors step up to help disabled Raymond veteran with home addition
Union Leader
By JASON SCHREIBER
Correspondent
January 11, 2017
Beauregard was unable to find a contractor willing to commit to the project, which has to be approved by the VA, but he’s been flooded with responses since the story was published.
Veteran Mike Beauregard uses his electric wheelchair in his Raymond home.  
(Jason Schreiber/Correspondent)
Disabled vet has VA cash, but no contractor for accessibility addition

RAYMOND — Disabled Army veteran Mike Beauregard is more optimistic than ever that he’ll be able to find the right contractor to get the home addition he needs as he struggles with multiple sclerosis.

“I have a feeling it’s going to happen,” he said Wednesday as he continued to return phone calls and reply to emails about the project he’s been trying to get done for years.

The 51-year-old Beauregard has been overwhelmed by the response to a story published Jan. 5 in the New Hampshire Union Leader in which he detailed the trouble he’s had trying to hire a contractor to build a handicapped-accessible first-floor master bedroom and bathroom through a $73,768 grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ specially adapted housing program.
read more here

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Special Forces Soldier From New Hampshire Died in Florida

Army Investigating Death Of NH Soldier During Dive Training
CBS Boston
November 5, 2016
“U.S. Army Special Forces Staff Sergeant David J. Whitcher was a decorated soldier whose service and sacrifice made our country safer and our freedom stronger,” Gov. Maggie Hassan
David Whitcher. (Image Credit: U.S. Army Special Operations Command)
MANCHESTER, N.H. (CBS/AP) — The commander of the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School says the death of a soldier from New Hampshire is “sobering reminder” of the dangerous training undertaken by the Special Forces.

The Army says 30-year-old Staff Sgt. David Whitcher of Bradford died Wednesday while dive training off of Key West, Florida. The death is under investigation.

Maj. Gen. James B. Linder said thoughts and prayers go to Whitcher’s family, including his wife and son.
read more here

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Marines Honor Fallen Hero Cpl. Michael Ouellette

Marines honor fallen corporal who kept fighting after IED blast
Marine Corps Times
By: Charlsy Panzino
August 30, 2016

A new headquarters building at the Marine Corps' Advanced Infantry Training Battalion will honor a fallen noncommissioned officer who earned the Navy Cross during the battle that took his life.

Marine officials will dedicate the new facility named for Cpl. Michael Ouellette at Camp Geiger, North Carolina, on Wednesday. The infantry squad leader was posthumously awarded the service's second-highest valor award for actions during a 2009 deployment to Afghanistan with 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines.

read more here

LONDONBERRY, N.H. (Nov. 10, 2010) Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) the Honorable Ray Mabus presents the Navy Cross to the family of Cpl. Michael Ouellette during a ceremony at the Marine Reserve Support Center in Londonderry, N.H. Ouellette, assigned to 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines, died March 22, 2009 during a firefight in the Now Zad district of Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The Navy Cross is the highest medal for valor awarded by the Navy and is second only to the Medal of Honor. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Kevin S. O'Brien/Released)

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Tall Ships Invade Portsmouth

Tall ships arrive in Portsmouth
Sea Coast Online
By Austin McGuigan
August 10, 2016

Parade leads tall ships into the Port City

The Oliver Hazard Perry tall ship docks in Portsmouth on Wednesday early evening after being in the boat parade on Piscataqua. Photo by Deb Cram/Seacoastonline
PORTSMOUTH—Not since 2007 has Ethan Bensley set foot on the Harvey Gamage. Spending four months onboard, Bensley who lives in Kittery, Maine, sailed the Gamage from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Boston as part of a “semester at sea.”

“It was awesome back in high school, it was a long time ago now,” said Bensley. “It’s a fun sail, it really is an old school sailing boat… certainly sailing on it is fun, but living on it is an whole other thing.”

On Wednesday, Bensley and his fiancée Lia Hoffmann, sailed aboard the Harvey Gamage for the annual Parade of Sail in the Piscataqua River. The parade kicked off the Piscataqua Maritime Commission Sail Portsmouth 2016 festival — held Thursday through Sunday.

A replica of a 19th century schooner, the Gamage carried 47 people up river. The Oliver Hazard Perry, Sail Portsmouth’s second featured tall ship, led the parade past the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and towards the Memorial Bridge.
read more here

Monday, August 8, 2016

Vietnam Veteran Will Not Give Up On Their Brothers

When I took some time off the end of July to spend with family in New England, I was supposed to be unplugged and just relaxing. I was walking around Portsmouth when I came upon a strange thing.  
Naturally I had to stop and talk to him while my daughter gave me the look like, "You're supposed to be off this weekend." It turns out that Peter MacDonald is a Vietnam Veteran.  As you know, that is the generation everyone forgets about and the one that got me started doing this work.  
They came home with the same wounds all the other generations did but they decided to fight to have it treated.  You know, the things everyone seems to think only happens to the OEF-OIF generation. 

They came home and fought to have PTSD diagnosed and treated as well as compensated for this wound.  They came home and ended up homeless walking the streets, living in the woods and depending on anything a kind heart bothered to share with them.

These were the numbers of veterans most walked away from.
Approximately 40% of homeless men are veterans, although veterans comprise only 34% of the general adult male population. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that on any given night, 200,000 veterans are homeless, and 400,000 veterans will experience homelessness during the course of a year (National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, 2006). 97% of those homeless veterans will be male (Department of Veterans Affairs, 2008). The National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients reports that veterans account for 23% of all homeless people in America (U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Urban Institute, 1999).

They suffered when no one else was looking. 
As the public has once again decided to cross the street instead of offer even a smile, they have proven how magnificent they really are.  They still haven't give up on the rest of the people in this country. They sure as hell are not giving up on each other.
It makes them very sad that with all the talk about helping the younger veterans, no one is talking about helping them, but not for the reason you may think.  They are sad knowing that the younger generation would not have to be going through the same suffering they did had all of us paid attention when they came home.
I was glad I stopped because this veteran was once homeless himself and decided that after he had been helped to get back on his feet, he would do the same for others.

I looked online and found a news report about him. Here it is.
Former Homeless Vet Vows To Help Others By Building Tiny Homes
WBZ-TV
By Chantee Lans
July 12, 2016

LEE, N.H. (CBS) – Peter MacDonald served as a Marine sergeant in Vietnam in the 1970s. He became homeless when he returned to New Hampshire.

“A person who became my friend found me. He was a Vietnam veteran that got back a year before me and realized what I was going through when he found me living under dumpster in Dover,” explained MacDonald.

He and his wife later met through his veteran rehabilitation services. Three years ago, they used their retirement money and life savings and held fundraisers to start a non-profit called Veteran Resort Chapel. The goal is to build 12 tiny homes on 11-acres of land for homeless combat veterans.

“This is something that should’ve been done years ago and I really hope that other people will see the idea of tiny homes for homeless combat veterans to given them a chance to find themselves to come home mentally as well as physically,” said MacDonald.
read more here