Showing posts with label Wyoming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wyoming. Show all posts

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Heroic efforts of Fort Carson MedEvac company save lives in Colorado floods

Heroic efforts of Fort Carson MedEvac company save lives in Colorado floods
Army
By Valecia L. Dunbar, D.M., Army Medicine Public Affairs
September 24, 2013

FORT CARSON, Colo. (Sept. 24, 2013) -- Three Army Medicine MedEvac crews from Fort Carson deployed to flood areas this week to assist in evacuation and rescue efforts.

They joined members of the Colorado and Wyoming National Guard, Federal Emergency Management Agency, and other local emergency response teams in support of flood evacuation operations.

According to Lance Blyth, U.S. Northern Command historian, the military response to the Colorado floods, dubbed "Operation Centennial Raging Waters," is likely to be the biggest rotary-wing airlift mission since Hurricane Katrina.

Operating out of Boulder Municipal airport, the MedEvac crews equipped with three Black Hawk and four Chinook helicopters flew upwards of 9.5 hours each on a single Saturday evacuation event before running out of daylight, and crew endurance. From Friday evening through Tuesday, flight crews completed several rounds of non-stop evacuations and 2nd Battalion, 4th Aviation Regiment, rescued/evacuated 1028 civilians and flew over 150 total flight hours.

Charlie Company Archangels flew over 75 flight hours and conducted 43 hoist missions, most of which included five or more lifts per mission in order to clear evacuation sites of all personnel, pets, and baggage. A total of 3,054 people were evacuated by military personnel as of mid September.

At the time, authorities were reporting more than 1,000 individuals were still unaccounted for, which increased concern that flight crews would start seeing patients by the time the mission was complete.
read more here

Monday, September 16, 2013

Stranded Guard members continue evacuating residents from flooded homes

At least 1,000 await rescue from Colorado flooding as helicopter flights resume
CNN
By Michael Pearson and George Howell
September 16, 2013

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Stranded Guard members continue evacuating residents from flooded homes
More than 3,000 families register for FEMA help, agency head says
Some communities run low on food, water, officials say
As many as 1,500 homes destroyed in one county, officials say

Longmont, Colorado (CNN) -- Food and water are running low in some of the Colorado communities cut off by epic flooding, but well-organized residents are holding their own while awaiting rescue, officials said Monday.

"Within the communities, all of these people are helping one another out," deputy incident commander Chuck Russell told reporters in Larimer County. "They're being very resourceful."

Helicopters from the U.S. Army and Colorado and Wyoming National Guards took to the air Monday morning, fanning out across the region to rescue people stranded across hundreds of square miles of Colorado flooded when intense rainfall last week pushed streams out of their banks and sent walls of water crashing down mountain canyons.

"Our birds are up and flying," the Wyoming National Guard tweeted. "If (you're) in trouble, we will find you! We will get you to safety!"

Among those cut off were 15 Colorado National Guard members and other emergency workers stranded Sunday when rising floodwater forced them to abandon efforts to evacuate residents from flooded areas near Lyons, a National Guard spokeswoman said.
read more here

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Soldier survived 7 roadside bombs

Soldier survives 7 roadside bombs
By CJ Baker
Powell (Wyo.) Tribune via the AP
Jul. 14, 2013

POWELL, WYO. — A U.S. soldier born in Powell and raised in Cody has drawn national media attention for his continued military service — even after several close calls with life-threatening explosions.

During the July 4 episode of the ABC news program “Nightline,” host Terry Moran described Army Staff Sgt. Chad Joiner as “one of our American heroes” and “a man amazingly still on the front lines, despite repeatedly cheating death.”

The piece by Muhammad Lila highlights a staggering statistic: roadside bombs exploded underneath Joiner’s vehicles seven times during his three deployments in Iraq.

“God has a plan for me. There’s an obvious reason why I’m still here,” Joiner, 31, told “Nightline.” “I don’t know 100 percent what that reason is, but He obviously has something in store for me.”
read more here

Monday, December 3, 2012

Hero Wyoming college instructor fought son in arrow attack

Police: Hero instructor fought son in arrow attack
By MEAD GRUVER
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 2, 2012

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Gravely wounded by an arrow fired into his head, a Wyoming college instructor still managed to wrestle with his 25-year-old son who carried out the attack and give his students time to flee the classroom, say police who hailed the actions as heroic.

More grisly details of the horrific murder-suicide in Wyoming came to light Saturday, a day after the younger man killed his father's live-in girlfriend and then barged into his father's computer science class and shot him in the head with a high-powered bow and arrow.

As James Krumm, 56, then fought with son Christopher Krumm of Vernon, Conn., during Friday's attack, the handful of students in the Casper College classroom escaped.

Christopher Krumm had just stabbed to death 42-year-old Heidi Arnold at the home she shared with James Krumm two miles away.

When police arrived at the classroom, they found Christopher Krumm bleeding from self-inflicted knife wounds and taking his last breaths.

James Krumm was dead, Casper Police Chief Chris Walsh said.

"I can tell you the courage that was demonstrated by Mr. Krumm was absolutely without equal," he said, adding that the instructor's actions could offer some measure of comfort to those affected by the killings.
read more here

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Army Col. David McKimmey, Bronze Star for Valor in Iraq

Wyoming soldier injured in Iraq earns Bronze Star for valor
JOAN BARRON
Casper Star-Tribune
October 13, 2012

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Army Col. David McKimmey didn't realize his leg had been broken until he tried to stand up.

He didn't find out until later that he had other fractures and burns to his face and hands.

He patted himself down, checking for bleeding. He found none.

McKimmey crawled to the burning Humvee and tried unsuccessfully to save another soldier inside.

He continued providing first aid to two other soldiers until the evacuation team arrived.

It was Sept. 5, 2007, on a road north of Balad, Iraq.

An improved explosive device buried in the road had exploded when McKimmey's Humvee, one of a three-vehicle convoy, drove over it.

Of the four men in the vehicle, only McKimmey and another soldier survived.

The crew was nearing the end of its 15-month deployment in Iraq.
read more here

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Grant to allow veteran screenings to continue

Grant to allow veteran screenings to continue

By Tram Whitehurst, Jackson Hole, Wyoming
August 2, 2011

St. John’s Medical Center has been awarded a $375,000 grant to continue providing cognitive health screenings and care to veterans in Wyoming and eastern Idaho.

Funded by the Rural Health Office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the grant calls on the hospital’s Institute for Cognitive Health to offer free memory care to veterans enrolled in the VA health care system.

The goal of the program, which runs through May, is to identify U.S. veterans suffering from memory loss and to provide care and referral assistance.
read more here
Grant to allow veteran screenings to continue

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Wyoming Army National Guard sniper kills wife then self

It's over: David Munis dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound to chest

By Cameron Mathews

cmathews@wyomingnews.com

CHEYENNE -- The Cheyenne man wanted for the sniper-style murder of his estranged wife died Tuesday night of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.

Cheyenne Police Chief Bob Fecht said a ranch hand spotted David Munis earlier Tuesday evening and contacted the Albany County Command Center.

The center then contacted Albany County sheriff's deputies, who approached Munis in a Wyoming Army National Guard Black Hawk helicopter, Fecht said.

As the helicopter was landing about six miles northwest of the Rogers Canyon area near the Albany-Laramie County border, deputies watched Munis shoot himself in the chest, Fecht said.

"He had been hiding up there in a small camper," he added.

Munis, 36, was wanted by the Laramie County District Attorney's Office on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Robin Munis, 40, early Saturday morning at the Old Chicago restaurant here.

She died while singing with a band inside the restaurant.

Cheyenne Police Lt. Jeff Schulz said Munis was taken in the Black Hawk helicopter to Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie. He was pronounced dead there.

"Obviously we wanted to catch him alive," Schulz said. "We didn't want him to do this to himself, but it's a relief the search is over."

David Munis' death ended a nearly four-day manhunt for the Army-trained sniper, who had been a member of the Wyoming Army National Guard since 2003.
read more here
David Munis dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound to chest

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Meow! Officer expects house cat, gets cougar

Meow! Officer expects house cat, gets cougar
Decides to wait for game warden with tranquilizer to handle problem
updated 3:24 p.m. ET, Tues., Sept. 30, 2008
CASPER, Wyo. - Police officer Mike Ableman didn't think much of a call to shoo off a bothersome "kitty cat" at a Casper home. But upon arriving at the scene, he ran for cover after seeing a male mountain lion weighing 80 to 90 pounds.
go here for more
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26959844/

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

VA press release about mobile health care

Recent VA News Releases
To view and download VA news release, please visit the following Internet address: http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel


VA Mobile Health Care Clinics Reach Rural Veterans Service Coming to 24 Counties in Six States
WASHINGTON (Aug. 27, 2008) -- The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) isrolling out four new mobile health clinics outfitted to bring primarycare and mental health services closer to veterans in 24 predominatelyrural counties, where patients must travel long distances to visit theirnearest VA medical center or outpatient clinic."VA is committed to providing primary care and mental health care forveterans in rural areas," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs Dr. JamesB. Peake.
"Health care should be based upon the needs of patients, nottheir ability to travel to a clinic or medical center."The pilot project is called Rural Mobile Health Care Clinics. It features a recreational-type vehicle equipped to be a rolling primarycare and mental health clinic.
VA is currently in the process of procuring and outfitting the vehicles,and officials expect the mobile clinics to be operational by early 2009.
Rural areas in Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming will share a single mobilevan, while Maine, Washington state and West Virginia will each have a VAmobile van.
The clinics are planned to serve:
* Colorado: Larimer, Jackson, Logan, and Weld counties;
* Maine: Franklin, Somerset and Piscataquis counties;
* Nebraska: Cheyenne, Kimball, and Scottsbluff counties;
* Washington state: Greys Harbor, Mason, and Lewis;
* West Virginia: Preston, Randolph, Upshur, Wetzel, Roane, andTaylor counties; and,
* Wyoming: Albany, Carbon, Goshen, and Platte counties.
Factors considered in the selection of the participating sites includeda need for improved access in the area, the degree to which clinics willexpand services and collaborations with communities the clinics serve.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

PTSD Marine said 'It can be helped' and it can

'It can be helped'

By JARED MILLER
Star-Tribune capital bureau Sunday, July 13, 2008



[oas:casperstartribune.net/news/wyoming:Middle1]
CHEYENNE -- While many Americans felt helpless as they watched terrorists attack New York City and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, Cody Feeback felt something else: a call to service.

He enlisted in the Marine Corps the next day, at age 18.

"Sept. 11 happened, and it just made up my mind,” said Feeback, who grew up in Sheridan. “I figured it was my turn to do something.”

By January he was in boot camp, and within months he was in Iraq, one of the first Marines into Baghdad during the initial invasion.

Feeback later volunteered for a second tour, and spent a total of 14 months in the Iraqi desert.

"I just felt like I could contribute more and that I should because I was able," he said, referring to the decision to voluntarily return to war.

Soon after he returned from Iraq and left the military, Feeback began to experience nightmares, flashbacks and insomnia -- clues that he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

He also became enraged over seemingly small irritations, as well as depressed and isolated.

He no longer enjoyed his favorite activities, and he felt like he didn’t fit in anywhere -- more symptoms that pointed to post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, an anxiety disorder affecting thousands of Iraq War veterans

"Once you get home, it’s a little harder to go from that to being a civilian again because you feel like you are alone," Feeback said.

Anger problems helped end his first serious romantic relationship after the war. He became enraged when his girlfriend was a few minutes late to a date, and the relationship crumbled.

"I get real mad at stupid stuff," Feeback said.

click post title for more

Jackson Hole Star-Tribune - Casper,WY has a great series today on PTSD. Bravo to them!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Former Marine Scott Carey Slipping through the cracks


Slipping through the cracks

Former Marine Scott Carey came home from Iraq after being shot and hit with shrapnel with a case of post-traUmatic stress disorder that drove him to self medicate and ultimately get in trouble with the law. Until his legal problems Carey did not get much treatment for the disorder but now uses counseling resources from the V.A. Hospital. - News-Record photo by Nathan Payne

By BRANTLEY HARGROVE, News-Record Writer
Published: Saturday, March 15, 2008 10:36 PM MDT
The yellow ribbons came down and the roses wilted. The rah-rah ebbed and the flags held in the hands of a row of other proud veterans who fought other wars stopped fluttering. The “welcome home, soldier” celebrations ended. There were no more slaps on the back.

Life for everyone else went back to normal. It followed the normal rhythms of the everyday, the mundane, even the complacent or ambivalent, half a world away from the Middle East.

But the euphoria of making it home alive dissipated for Scott Carey after he returned from Iraq in the spring of 2003.

While everyone else went about the day-to-day, he tried to figure out what exactly that meant for him. The former Marine Corps combat engineer caught a bullet through both elbows and his left hip in Iraq. While he was waiting to be evacuated, a mortar detonated nearby and shrapnel pierced his back.

Life as he knew it ended before that day, though. The things he’d seen came home, too. He looked death in the face in the form of improvised explosive devices he routinely cleared. That hyper-alert awareness that evolved inside him — an adaptation in combat — became a liability in civilian life.

How does one shift from fifth gear to first, where such behavior is seen as paranoia, not caution?

It changed him, body and mind. The skinny private first class became more lineman than lean soldier in the years after his return. Wearing a camouflage UFC T-shirt and a camouflage cap covering close-cropped hair, Carey has eyes that are both melancholy and direct at times.

For six months he was a VA inpatient on a heavy regimen of anti-depressants — about 1,300 milligrams of Seroquel for his anxiety and depression, and Trazadone for sleep. He felt like he was losing sight of himself in the drugs.

After his medical discharge at the beginning of 2005, Carey didn’t want to be thought of as a pill-popper, a mental health stigma the VA and the military are trying to turn on its head. The rationale among soldiers is if you make it out alive, you can take care of yourself afterward. You should rely on your combat buddies, not some head shrinker who wasn’t there, who doesn’t understand. But his buddies scattered to the four winds to reclaim their own lives. There was no one around who understood.

He wasn’t a part of that family that gave him place and purpose. It’s a common theme among vets. Many still in the service will keep it together, vets say. That military structure girds their traumatized minds. When it’s gone, they crumble.

“When I got medically discharged, it was like ... they took me away from something I was good at.”
For them, the hardest part is just asking for help.
click post title for the rest

HOW TO FIND HELP- If you or someone you know is having a hard time dealing with combat experiences, help is out there.-
Leon Chamberlain is the advocate for vets in the northern part of Wyoming, and he can find you help. He can be reached at (307) 359-2430.-
The number for the VA clinic in Gillette is 685-0676.-
The number for the VA Medical Center in Sheridan is (307) 672-3473.