Showing posts with label North Dakota. Show all posts
Showing posts with label North Dakota. Show all posts

Sunday, November 6, 2011

North Dakota National Guard gives kidney to other soldier

N.D. guardsman donates kidney to fellow soldier
The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Nov 5, 2011 12:26:22 EDT
FARGO, N.D. — Two members of the North Dakota National Guard have shared not only duty in Afghanistan, but also a kidney.

When Spc. John Chase’s kidneys shut down, Sgt. Francisco “Cisco” Raatz donated one to his friend.

Chase was on leave early last year when he became ill while vacationing with his family at Disneyland. Once he returned to Grand Forks, his doctor found that his kidneys had shut down, the Grand Forks Herald and Fargo Forum reported.

Chase started kidney dialysis to cleanse his blood of impurities, but then learned his kidneys had failed because they had been targeted by antibodies. After a year and a half, the antibodies had run their course and Chase was eligible for a kidney transplant.

Raatz, 29, still on duty in Afghanistan with a unit of military police, learned that his friend was in need of a donor kidney. When he learned his blood type made him a potential donor, he decided he would be tested after he got back home to see if he was a match.

Raatz was a match and decided to donate a kidney.
read more here

Thursday, July 7, 2011

North Dakota Tribal leaders explain VA needs

Tribal leaders explain VA needs

By SARA KINCAID Bismarck Tribune
Posted: Tuesday, July 5, 2011

North Dakota tribal leaders want more Veterans Affairs services on the reservations.

They told Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki Tuesday that there is a need for housing, health care and access to other VA services on the reservations.

“We all have friends and relatives who have served,” said David Gipp, president of United Tribes Technical College.

Shinseki was at United Tribes Technical College Tuesday morning for a listening session with tribal leaders and American Indian veterans. He also visited the VA Outreach Clinic at Gateway Mall in Bismarck, and spoke with members of the tribes about what services are available.

The crowd in the Healing Room of the United Tribes Wellness Center provided examples of what Veterans Affairs has done right and where they could improve serving the population of veterans.

In some cases it was offering help for job training or creating culturally-relevant services, such as a sweat lodge. Former state senator, Richard Marcellais, recalled an outreach program by the Fargo-based VA office in Turtle Mountain.


Read more: Tribal leaders explain VA needs

North Dakota Guard members pedaling with purpose

North Dakota Guard members pedaling with purpose
Bike trek aims to raise awareness about PTSD
FARGO – Dan Olson has ridden his bicycle around North Dakota for the past two years in memory of friend and fellow soldier Joe Biel.
By: Danielle Cintron, INFORUM

FARGO – Dan Olson has ridden his bicycle around North Dakota for the past two years in memory of friend and fellow soldier Joe Biel.

Olson, a North Dakota National Guardsman in the 188th unit based in Wahpeton, began this year’s bike ride June 27 in Williston and passed through Fargo on Tuesday.

He started the ride as a way to bring awareness to post-traumatic stress disorder among soldiers.

“There are a lot more people with PTSD than you’d think,” he said. “The army brainwashes people into thinking you’re invincible. So, soldiers like to shove the idea of getting help aside.”

Staff Sgt. Biel, of Devils Lake, died of suicide in April 2007 after serving two tours in Iraq.

“We’re just trying to prevent people from doing that kind of thing again,” Olson said. “We’re trying to make this (bike ride) a yearly event. It’d be really nice to get a corporate sponsorship and make this bigger.”
read more here
North Dakota Guard members pedaling with purpose

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Soldiers Raising Awareness of PTSD

Soldiers Raising Awareness of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
June 27 declared PTSD Awareness Day by US Senate

Published : Monday, 27 Jun 2011
Bob Barnard
bob.barnard@foxtv.com
By BOB BARNARD/myfoxdc

WASHINGTON - Did you know that June 27 is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Awareness Day and it has been declared so by the United States Senate?

North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad sponsored the resolution honoring the efforts of a North Dakota Army National Guard unit that is trying to spread awareness of PTSD after one of their own, Sgt. Joe Biel, killed himself while battling PTSD.

June 27 was Sgt. Biel's birthday.

"We have a problem with mental health stigma in this country," says Tom Tarantino of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "We don't talk about it. We don't look at it the same way we look at physical wounds. It's not something that we're all aware of."

"It is treatable," says Army Sgt. Juan Alcivar. "As long as you just take it one step at a time."
Alcivar has suffered from PTSD since 2007 when he was wounded in Iraq.


Read more: Soldiers Raising Awareness of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Vietnam veteran retiring from Guard after serving since 1970

Vietnam veteran retiring from Guard

One of the last veterans of the Vietnam War still serving in the North Dakota Army National Guard is retiring.

Master Sgt. Douglas F. Balliet will be honored at a retirement ceremony at 1 p.m. Monday at the Army Aviation Support Facility, 3410 Airway Ave., south of the Bismarck Airport. The event is open to the public.

A native of Linton, Balliet enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1970 and was assigned as an aircraft mechanic with the 101st Airborne Division at Camp Eagle, Vietnam, from September 1970, to September 1971.

After an additional tour in the active duty Army, Balliet joined the North Dakota Army National Guard in 1972.

He is assigned as the North Dakota Army National Guard’s aircraft maintenance supervisor.

There are two other Vietnam War veterans still serving in the North Dakota Army Guard.
Vietnam veteran retiring from Guard

Friday, June 4, 2010

ND Guard members work to bring PTSD into the spotlight

ND Guard members work to bring PTSD into the spotlight
Fargo, ND (WDAY TV) - It would be easy to get lost in the numbers and percentages. Those returning North Dakota guard members who suffer P-T-S-D. That is until you see a face, a name. Today, the hard work and perseverance of a few North Dakota guard members paid off when Senator Kent Conrad met with them and focused the spotlight on a problem kept in the dark too long.
By: Kevin Wallevand, WDAY



Video
PTSD awareness
It would be easy to get lost in the numbers and percentages. Those returning North Dakota guard members who suffer P-T-S-D. That is until you see a face, a name. Today, the hard work and perseverance of a few North Dakota guard members paid off when Senator Kent Conrad met with them and focused the spotlight on a problem kept in the dark too long.

Friends will tell you Joe Biel was a soldier's soldier. Confident, a battle buddy who served the North Dakota guard in Kosovo with two tours in Iraq.


“He was amazing, just amazing that is one word that wraps it up. He was selfless and would give you the shirt off his back. He would give you the last ten dollars in his wallet.”


But just months after Joe returned from Iraq to the Dakotas, PTSD pushed him over the edge. He took his own life at the age of 36.


“We did not recognize it. We were all going through the same thing and we were all having our own issues and having our own problems at the same time and there just wasn't enough support there for him.”
go here for more
http://www.wday.com/event/article/id/34380/

Monday, September 21, 2009

Father, daughter deploy jointly with ND Guard

Father, daughter deploy jointly with ND Guard

The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Sep 21, 2009 18:13:08 EDT

WEST FARGO, N.D. — National Guard Spc. Heather Zimmerman followed in her father’s footsteps in joining the military. Now the two are being deployed together.

Zimmerman and her father, Sgt. Major Alvin Zimmerman of West Fargo, are among 650 North Dakota National Guard members assigned to a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. Officials say the North Dakotans will lead a multinational group of about 1,400.
read more here
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/09/ap_guard_nd_family_deployment_092109/

Sunday, December 14, 2008

North Dakota National Guard soldiers with PTSD

Soldiers with PTSD

Dec 12 2008 7:08PM
KXMBTV Bismarck
When a soldier returns home after being deployed the sacrifices are not over for many of them...

Since 2001 over four thousand North Dakota National Guard soldiers and airman have been deployed.

And according to national statistics nearly 1 in 5 of all military service members who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan report symptoms of PTSD.

Donnell Preskey has one soldiers story...

A year ago Major Stephen Herda was recovering from a rocket attack in Iraq... (Stephen Herda) "injured left lower leg, thigh, chin as result was evacuated out of theatre." While his wounds have healed he can tell he still suffers with a less visible injury... PTSD..

"Now that I'm back at job and doing what normally do - a lot of little things add stress and when it gets to a point, I'll have a panic attack. Major Herda says his Post Tramatic Stress Disorder symptoms are different from even two other soldiers injured in the same attack

"I don't relive the event, the other indiv. couldn't get it out of his head for the first 3 months. He couldn't sleep, has trouble eating, every time closed eyes he was in a 30 sec loop of hearing sirens, explosion of the rocket and feeling the injury." What's helped Herda is talking about how he was injured, what he did in Iraq and how his unit was making a difference in the country

"Being able to tell my story has helped a lot in the healing process." Now he's more cautious, more aware of his surroundings and staying away from anything that may trigger memories.
go here for more
http://www.kxmc.com/News/308381.asp