Passers-by ignore dying man 2:02
Passers-by ignore dying man 2:02
A man dies after being beaten on a D.C. street and then ignored by passers-by. WJLA reports.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Homeless man left to die on sidewalk in DC
No it wasn't at night when no one would have seen him. It wasn't in a part of the city where no one would see him. No, not at all. It was in front of a grocery store, on the sidewalk of a busy street in broad daylight with plenty of people just walking by. Their excuse was that they see this all the time. Amazing!
Fix the economy by fixing veterans first
If the congress really wanted to fix the economy, aside from the infrastructure and turning this country green, they could start with one very urgent "social program" no Republican in their right mind would ever complain about. That's taking care of the veterans. With over 800,000 claims tied up and over 300,000 on appeal, that means veterans are waiting for care but it also means they are waiting for money so they can pay their bills and support their families. They need to face the fact that sooner or later, most of these claims will be approved and very few will be found to be fraudulent.
Take the backlogged claims and approve all of them at 50% that way you put food in their stomachs and help them pay the rent or mortgage. Review them afterward to either increase or decrease the compensation. Make sure they fully understand that if their claim was fraudulent, then they will be prosecuted plus forced to repay. The VA is supposedly already hiring more claims processors and this will free up the pile to allow them to fully review claims that were pushed through, give them ample time to get the information and documentation they need and actually help veterans with their claims instead of ending up acting as if they are against the veteran. Sorry folks but this is the way the VA is viewed by anyone filing a claim. They feel as if the VA is out to turn them down and make them just go away.
I'm sure they can come up with some kind of coding system that will flag these expedited claims and assist doctors in either proving or disproving claims. They need to listen to doctors considering they are paid by the VA and they were trained by the VA to know what they are doing.
There were some experts in the past that suggested pushing through the claims to free up the backlog but it seems to me we have a much better reason now. Stop and think about the way the economy is and how hard it is to get a job for civilians. It's even harder for veterans, believe it or not, and almost impossible if they happen to be disabled on top of that.
We have National Guards troops coming back to job losses plus the employers that are hiring unwilling to even think of hiring them because of the chance they will be redeployed again. Toss in a disabled National Guards combat veteran and then try to tell them why they have no money to pay their bills. Won't be an easy task at the same time they've been told this is a grateful nation.
As for veteran that can work, put them to work on all of these massive infrastructure projects. Give companies that hire them a better chance of competing for contracts. Give a company owned by one a better chance than that. Then maybe, just maybe, we can do the right thing for a change.
VA Compensation Tables
Veteran Alone
30% $376
40% $541
50% $770
60% $974
70% $1,228
80% $1,427
90% $1,604
100% $2,673
Take the backlogged claims and approve all of them at 50% that way you put food in their stomachs and help them pay the rent or mortgage. Review them afterward to either increase or decrease the compensation. Make sure they fully understand that if their claim was fraudulent, then they will be prosecuted plus forced to repay. The VA is supposedly already hiring more claims processors and this will free up the pile to allow them to fully review claims that were pushed through, give them ample time to get the information and documentation they need and actually help veterans with their claims instead of ending up acting as if they are against the veteran. Sorry folks but this is the way the VA is viewed by anyone filing a claim. They feel as if the VA is out to turn them down and make them just go away.
I'm sure they can come up with some kind of coding system that will flag these expedited claims and assist doctors in either proving or disproving claims. They need to listen to doctors considering they are paid by the VA and they were trained by the VA to know what they are doing.
There were some experts in the past that suggested pushing through the claims to free up the backlog but it seems to me we have a much better reason now. Stop and think about the way the economy is and how hard it is to get a job for civilians. It's even harder for veterans, believe it or not, and almost impossible if they happen to be disabled on top of that.
We have National Guards troops coming back to job losses plus the employers that are hiring unwilling to even think of hiring them because of the chance they will be redeployed again. Toss in a disabled National Guards combat veteran and then try to tell them why they have no money to pay their bills. Won't be an easy task at the same time they've been told this is a grateful nation.
As for veteran that can work, put them to work on all of these massive infrastructure projects. Give companies that hire them a better chance of competing for contracts. Give a company owned by one a better chance than that. Then maybe, just maybe, we can do the right thing for a change.
Aftermath of 9-11 leaves PTSD legacy
A few hours on one September morning shattered the city of New York, the state and the entire nation. One morning. We read about what happened that day along with what came after with PTSD cases, illnesses and yes, even suicide cases. We read about broken families. Why is it so easy for us to understand what came after 9-11 when we cannot seem to find the same level of understanding when it comes to the police officers the rest of time on duty, the firefighters the rest of their time on duty or the emergency responders the rest of their time on duty? Where is this understanding when National Guardsmen come home or the troops, or the veterans years after they were exposed to traumatic events over and over and over again?
Let that sink in a moment then read the following.
Ground Zero workers 'six times more likely to be stressed'
InTheNews.co.uk - London,UK
Monday, 02 Feb 2009 08:02
Workers at Ground Zero six times more likely to suffer from serious stress disorders, study shows Printer friendly version Ironworkers at Ground Zero are almost six times more likely to suffer from serious stress disorders than the general public, a new study showed today.
Research published today revealed that 18.5 ironworkers situated at the ruins of the World Trade Centre suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In comparison, the national average in the United States is 3.5 per cent.
Of the study's 124 participants – all of whom attended the World Trade Centre mental health screening programme in New York City between 14 and 17 months after the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks – 60 per cent displayed symptoms of psychiatric disorders.
As well as establishing a causal link between PTSD and working at Ground Zero, researchers, publishing their study in Psychiatric Bulletin, revealed near double rates of anxiety and panic attacks among participants. click link for more
Here you have us in the year 2009 but we're still talking about what happened that one morning on September 11, 2001. We still want to hear about the police officers, firefighters, the survivors and what happened to family members. We find it so easy to look at how their lives changed from this one morning but we don't want to look at how the lives change of those we send into combat or their families.
As bad as that is, yesterday I posted about how to normalize PTSD when it comes to the troops and veterans. That's because PTSD is a human wound caused by traumatic events, like this one morning in September. We need to help the troops and veterans let this sink into their own brains. New York experienced the horrific images of carnage but the troops and veterans experience this type of event over and over again. They cannot understand that sooner or later it does get to them simply because they are still human despite all the training, planing and equipping they receive. No matter how hard the military may try, they cannot prevent the men and women serving from being human. PTSD cannot be prevented unless somehow someone manages to stop all crime, stop all natural disasters, stop all fires and stop all wars.
As much as we claim to value the troops and the veterans this one fact is what makes them just like the rest of us and it's about time someone got the message thru to them that they are in fact still humans and they suffer like any other human. They need help like any other human. Would they think the people that responded to ground zero are weak or would they understand? Would they think the firefighters and police officers rushing to the Twin Towers were cowards because they didn't walk away the same as they rushed in or would they admire their courage in the first place? Then why can't they let those facts translate into what they go through? Why can't we make sure they look at themselves as a human first and a warrior second?
Columbia woman implores judge to keep her husband committed
A friend of ours is in a halfway house because of PTSD. We just got word he may never be able to go home. He came home from Vietnam with PTSD but was able to bury it for years. A secondary stressor sent him over the edge so fast his family couldn't understand what just hit all of them.
After WWII veterans with PTSD (not called PTSD back then) were sent to live on farms because they had shell shock. We need to face the fact that while the vast majority of PTSD wounded vetearns are not violent, some are.
After WWII veterans with PTSD (not called PTSD back then) were sent to live on farms because they had shell shock. We need to face the fact that while the vast majority of PTSD wounded vetearns are not violent, some are.
Columbia woman implores judge to keep her husband committed
Baltimore Sun - United States
Octogenarian attacked his wife with a hammer last year
By Don Markus don.markus@baltsun.com
February 2, 2009
Cedric Payne's visits to the state mental hospital where his father, Calvin, was involuntarily committed after beating his wife with a hammer last May follow a similar pattern: the elder Payne experiencing fleeting moments of focus followed by long periods of confusion.
As a result, Cedric, the only child of the Columbia couple, said that his 84-year-old father is where he should be, but that his 81-year-old mother, Alma, still fears for her life.
"She thinks that if he can get out, he'll come back and complete the job," Cedric Payne said in a telephone interview last week.
Alma Payne was attacked May 5 by her husband of 64 years in their Columbia home. Calvin Payne was charged with attempted murder and assault. After being sent to the Clifton T. Perkins Hospital Center, a maximum-security psychiatric hospital in Jessup, Calvin Payne was moved in October to Springfield Hospital Center in Sykesville.
click link for more
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Reporter does not know when Vietnam ended?
This really could have been a great story. The problem is, it just doesn't add up.
Why am I upset? Because while this would have made a great story and was well written, the problem is, this "Vietnam veteran" was not if this reporter has his dates right.
Veterans do go homeless. I can't remember how many stories out of over 5,000 I've done on this blog alone about them. They also ended up in jail because back then when they committed crimes, no one cared they were a veteran. Today, well Veterans Courts are finally finding a balance of justice for the veterans.
Is Bob Nyert a veteran? I have no way of knowing and I don't know if the reporter asked for any proof either. What I do know is that the Vietnam War, for the most part was over in 1973 but the deaths didn't stop until 1975. I know Vietnam veterans from that time between the "end" and the real end, treated as if they are "not really Vietnam veterans" and this man claims he was one but served in 1976. So why drag Vietnam into any of this. It would be a bad enough story of yet another veteran ending up homeless, maybe going to jail when he should have been helped instead, but to drag Vietnam into this, does not do the story or the suffering of so many other homeless veterans justice at all.
Veterans Of Homlessness
By Gary Gray
Reporter / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: February 1, 2009
A door cracked slowly open, and a shadow stretched across the cold, gray floor.
Bob Nyert entered the meeting room at a snail’s pace, eyed his surroundings and tentatively rolled his wheelchair to a spot where he felt comfortable.
When asked to come closer, he gripped the wheels tightly and cautiously made his way forward. He positioned himself, locked his wheels in place and linked his hands together on his lap.
When he did, rays of sunshine poured down on his face and shoulders from a nearby window and bounced off the black and gold cross hanging from his neck.
The 51-year-old former Navy missile technician is a homeless veteran. His path through life has not been laden with the pretty and pleasant. The foundations of his story are built on heartache, anger and loss.
“It’s ugly,” he said of being homeless.
His eyes were wide and fixed. His body language projected clear signs of a man weighed down by regret and apprehension.
Nyert, originally from Illinois, was a missile technician from 1976-78. He joined the military to further his high school education and serve his country.
“I went in when I was 18, and at that point there was no thought in my mind at all that I might end up homeless,” he said. “But I found out I had a congenital spine disease while I was still in. That’s probably where it all started.”
Following an early honorable discharge because of his disability, Nyert became angry at his circumstances and at the world.
“When I got out I was filled with rage,” he said, his body stiffening. “I started using alcohol and drugs. I became a loner. People would look at me funny, and that increased the rage that was locked up inside me.”
In 1981, that rage finally got the better of Nyert, when he lashed out at another human being, committing a crime, which he would not discuss, that locked him and his rage behind bars for 26 long years.
“My war was prison,” he said softly, looking at the ground. “A lot of the guys from the Vietnam era – for them it was a war their government didn’t want to commit to, and the media forced that issue on the public. It damaged a lot of the men’s psyches.
“Today, the Vietnam vets see the guys returning from Iraq and being treated like heroes when they were spit on when they returned,” Nyert said. “It made them angry.”
Nyert was released from an Arizona prison just more than a year ago.
click link for more
Why am I upset? Because while this would have made a great story and was well written, the problem is, this "Vietnam veteran" was not if this reporter has his dates right.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the Vietnam Era Veterans' Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA) states, "A Vietnam era veteran is a person who served on active duty for a period of more than 180 days, any part of which occurred between August 5, 1964 and May 7, 1975, and was discharged or released with other than a dishonorable discharge.
Was discharged or released from active duty for a service connected disability if any part of such active duty was performed between August 5, 1964 and May 7, 1975.
Served on active duty for more than 180 days and served in the Republic of Vietnam between February 28, 1961 and May 7, 1975."
Veterans do go homeless. I can't remember how many stories out of over 5,000 I've done on this blog alone about them. They also ended up in jail because back then when they committed crimes, no one cared they were a veteran. Today, well Veterans Courts are finally finding a balance of justice for the veterans.
Is Bob Nyert a veteran? I have no way of knowing and I don't know if the reporter asked for any proof either. What I do know is that the Vietnam War, for the most part was over in 1973 but the deaths didn't stop until 1975. I know Vietnam veterans from that time between the "end" and the real end, treated as if they are "not really Vietnam veterans" and this man claims he was one but served in 1976. So why drag Vietnam into any of this. It would be a bad enough story of yet another veteran ending up homeless, maybe going to jail when he should have been helped instead, but to drag Vietnam into this, does not do the story or the suffering of so many other homeless veterans justice at all.
National Guard troops marking homes that need assistance in Kentucky
Troops mark homes; Kentucky is warned of strong winds
Story Highlights
NEW: One mayor says it may be two months before county has all electricity back
National Weather Service warns winds could knock loose trees down
National Guard troops marking homes that need assistance
More than 400,000 Kentuckians without electricity
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (CNN) -- National Guard troops were going door to door Sunday in Kentucky, checking on families in the worst-hit areas of what Gov. Steve Beshear called "the biggest natural disaster that this state has ever experienced in modern history."
The devastating ice storm has been blamed for at least seven deaths in Kentucky, Beshear said. In total, 21 deaths have been reported in the state since the storm hit on Tuesday, but authorities could not immediately confirm whether all were directly storm-related.
The "unprecedented" call-up of the National Guard includes 4,600 troops in various roles.
Of 120 counties in the state, 92 had declared emergencies, the governor's office said. More than 400,000 customers were without power. See images of the ice storm's aftermath »
Temperatures were higher Sunday -- in the 40s -- which meant some relief, but also new problems. Melting ice and snowcan make it more difficult for utility trucks to reach certain areas.
And the National Weather Service warned of another potential problem: winds that could knock down loose trees.
click link for more
Story Highlights
NEW: One mayor says it may be two months before county has all electricity back
National Weather Service warns winds could knock loose trees down
National Guard troops marking homes that need assistance
More than 400,000 Kentuckians without electricity
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (CNN) -- National Guard troops were going door to door Sunday in Kentucky, checking on families in the worst-hit areas of what Gov. Steve Beshear called "the biggest natural disaster that this state has ever experienced in modern history."
The devastating ice storm has been blamed for at least seven deaths in Kentucky, Beshear said. In total, 21 deaths have been reported in the state since the storm hit on Tuesday, but authorities could not immediately confirm whether all were directly storm-related.
The "unprecedented" call-up of the National Guard includes 4,600 troops in various roles.
Of 120 counties in the state, 92 had declared emergencies, the governor's office said. More than 400,000 customers were without power. See images of the ice storm's aftermath »
Temperatures were higher Sunday -- in the 40s -- which meant some relief, but also new problems. Melting ice and snowcan make it more difficult for utility trucks to reach certain areas.
And the National Weather Service warned of another potential problem: winds that could knock down loose trees.
click link for more
Another Warrior Transition Unit Dead Ruled Suicide
Another Warrior Transition Unit Death Ruled Suicide?
by
Chaplain Kathie
How much time is enough to get this right? How many more times do they need to find one more soldier dead before they figure out that what they are doing is not good enough? PTSD is not new! Humans have been on this planet long enough, facing traumatic events, going to war with each other, documenting what comes after war and suffering while telling their stories so that the "experts" should have some clue what the hell to do to help warriors heal. Not only are the veterans suffering, their families suffer and so do the people trying to take care of them while some pea brain without the slightest clue of what they are going through claims to have found the "right treatment" but they keep suffering and killing themselves! ENOUGH TALK! Enough re-researching what has been researched to death. Enough wasting time with what does not work. For Heaven's sake, we know what needs to be done and we know how to do it. We've had over 30 years of studying this to know better.
Step one-get rid of BattleMind because it does more harm than good. I have yet to hear from one veteran BattleMind has helped.
Step two-normalize PTSD. It's a normal reaction to abnormal events. Let them know how many civilians end up with PTSD from the other causes then point out for them, it's a one time traumatic event that does it while they end up enduring event after event after event. Then they'll get it into their brains that to expect to walk away from combat without any changes is not realistic at all. They all change. Some change more than others. Others end up wounded by all of it instead of just changed.
Step three-Stop acting as if they are criminals. Do not belittle them because they seek help and honor the fact they have the courage enough to ask for help. Do not treat them like scum because they say they want to stop drinking or using drugs to cover up what they don't want to feel and then help them understand that is what medications can do for them a lot better than street drugs and getting drunk ever could.
Step four-spend as much time as need to get it into the brains of their families they are no longer dealing with "normal GI Joe" because Joe is no longer able to communicate with himself anymore. The "Joe" he used to be is trapped behind a wall of pain and he needs their help to find "himself" again. While he will never be totally the same person he was before PTSD, he can in fact end up even better as a person than he was before, even with living with flashbacks and nightmares that may never totally go away. Tell the exactly what a flashback is and what they see in their dreams without sugar coating any of it. They need to know what they are up against when confronting a zoned out veteran on a flashback trip from hell or a out of body nightmare so vivid they have no clue where they really are if you wake them up.
Step five-take the one third of Americans with a clue what PTSD is and get them to pound it into the brains of the other two thirds they better start paying attention to all of this before the National Guards and Reservists come home from yet another deployment and then have to face the next mudslide, hurricane, wildfire, tornado or flood. Make sure they get the message before they face another time when a police officer or firefighter comes back from deployment and needs their help for a change.
This isn't that hard people! Families of Vietnam Veterans have been doing it for years and found out the hard way what works to save their veterans lives along with saving their marriages. The only regret we have is that the people with the power to raise awareness of what our voices have to say ARE NOT LISTENING!
So now please tell me what there is about any of this that there is yet one more suicide from a GI that was supposed to be in the best care possible?
by
Chaplain Kathie
How much time is enough to get this right? How many more times do they need to find one more soldier dead before they figure out that what they are doing is not good enough? PTSD is not new! Humans have been on this planet long enough, facing traumatic events, going to war with each other, documenting what comes after war and suffering while telling their stories so that the "experts" should have some clue what the hell to do to help warriors heal. Not only are the veterans suffering, their families suffer and so do the people trying to take care of them while some pea brain without the slightest clue of what they are going through claims to have found the "right treatment" but they keep suffering and killing themselves! ENOUGH TALK! Enough re-researching what has been researched to death. Enough wasting time with what does not work. For Heaven's sake, we know what needs to be done and we know how to do it. We've had over 30 years of studying this to know better.
Step one-get rid of BattleMind because it does more harm than good. I have yet to hear from one veteran BattleMind has helped.
Step two-normalize PTSD. It's a normal reaction to abnormal events. Let them know how many civilians end up with PTSD from the other causes then point out for them, it's a one time traumatic event that does it while they end up enduring event after event after event. Then they'll get it into their brains that to expect to walk away from combat without any changes is not realistic at all. They all change. Some change more than others. Others end up wounded by all of it instead of just changed.
Step three-Stop acting as if they are criminals. Do not belittle them because they seek help and honor the fact they have the courage enough to ask for help. Do not treat them like scum because they say they want to stop drinking or using drugs to cover up what they don't want to feel and then help them understand that is what medications can do for them a lot better than street drugs and getting drunk ever could.
Step four-spend as much time as need to get it into the brains of their families they are no longer dealing with "normal GI Joe" because Joe is no longer able to communicate with himself anymore. The "Joe" he used to be is trapped behind a wall of pain and he needs their help to find "himself" again. While he will never be totally the same person he was before PTSD, he can in fact end up even better as a person than he was before, even with living with flashbacks and nightmares that may never totally go away. Tell the exactly what a flashback is and what they see in their dreams without sugar coating any of it. They need to know what they are up against when confronting a zoned out veteran on a flashback trip from hell or a out of body nightmare so vivid they have no clue where they really are if you wake them up.
Step five-take the one third of Americans with a clue what PTSD is and get them to pound it into the brains of the other two thirds they better start paying attention to all of this before the National Guards and Reservists come home from yet another deployment and then have to face the next mudslide, hurricane, wildfire, tornado or flood. Make sure they get the message before they face another time when a police officer or firefighter comes back from deployment and needs their help for a change.
This isn't that hard people! Families of Vietnam Veterans have been doing it for years and found out the hard way what works to save their veterans lives along with saving their marriages. The only regret we have is that the people with the power to raise awareness of what our voices have to say ARE NOT LISTENING!
So now please tell me what there is about any of this that there is yet one more suicide from a GI that was supposed to be in the best care possible?
Transition unit spc. kills self in Colo. home
Nearly 70 soldiers died in WTUs’ first 16 months
By Gina Cavallaro - Staff writer
Posted : Sunday Feb 1, 2009 8:40:07 EST
The last person Spc. Larry Applegate is known to have spoken to before killing himself was a sergeant with the El Paso County Sheriff’s office in Colorado Springs, Colo.
His words, according to a spokeswoman, foretold a tragic ending.
“One of the sergeants talked with him briefly on the phone,” said the spokeswoman, Lt. Lari Sevene. “He was making suicidal statements.”
Applegate, according to Sevene, who cited preliminary deputies’ reports, was arguing with his wife around 10:30 p.m. on Jan. 16 in their two-story home in the Widefield area of Colorado Springs when he fired a couple of rounds, causing her to flee the house.
He pursued her, fired a few more rounds, then holed himself up inside the house. Using a .45-caliber handgun and an M16 rifle, Applegate fired multiple rounds inside the house, tearing up the couple’s belongings and firing shots through the front door, where sheriff’s deputies had surrounded the house in a standoff, Sevene said.
Agents with a special weapons and tactics team went into Applegate’s house at 12:25 a.m., about 30 minutes after the gunfire stopped, and found him dead with a gunshot wound to the head, Sevene said.
No one else was hurt and the case is still under investigation.
Applegate, 27, was an infantryman who had deployed to Iraq for a year in December 2005 with 1st Battalion, 68th Armor, 4th Infantry Division. Since February 2008, he had been assigned to the Warrior Transition Unit at Fort Carson for an undisclosed ailment.
Because of its public nature, his case is one of the most vividly detailed of the more than 70 soldiers who have died while assigned to one of the Army’s 36 WTUs, but suicide is not the leading cause.
According to data compiled by the Warrior Care and Transition Office, 68 soldiers died while assigned to a WTU between June 2007, when the wounded warrior care units were established, and Oct. 31, 2008.
click link for more
Off-duty LAPD officer is shot, in serious condition
Off-duty LAPD officer is shot, in serious condition
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
By Ruben Vives and Richard Winton
February 1, 2009
A 49-year-old off-duty Los Angeles police officer was in serious condition Saturday night after being shot in the shoulder during a struggle with two assailants who approached him as he was leaving his City Terrace home, police said.
The 14-year-veteran, Anthony Razo, is assigned to the Hollenbeck division and previously worked with the station's gang detail. He was leaving his house in the 800 block of North Gage Avenue about 5 a.m. Saturday to play golf when he was attacked near his SUV.
The motive for the assault, and whether the officer was targeted or a random victim, is under investigation.
Police said Razo and one attacker were armed with handguns.
During the struggle, Razo's weapon dropped and was picked up by one of the assailants and used to shoot the officer in the upper region of his right shoulder, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said.
Razo was found in his front yard, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Gil Carrillo. Razo was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
click link for more
Los Angeles Times - CA,USA
By Ruben Vives and Richard Winton
February 1, 2009
A 49-year-old off-duty Los Angeles police officer was in serious condition Saturday night after being shot in the shoulder during a struggle with two assailants who approached him as he was leaving his City Terrace home, police said.
The 14-year-veteran, Anthony Razo, is assigned to the Hollenbeck division and previously worked with the station's gang detail. He was leaving his house in the 800 block of North Gage Avenue about 5 a.m. Saturday to play golf when he was attacked near his SUV.
The motive for the assault, and whether the officer was targeted or a random victim, is under investigation.
Police said Razo and one attacker were armed with handguns.
During the struggle, Razo's weapon dropped and was picked up by one of the assailants and used to shoot the officer in the upper region of his right shoulder, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said.
Razo was found in his front yard, said Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Gil Carrillo. Razo was taken to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center.
click link for more
Col. James L. Merchant III, died after parachute accident
Parachutist was a distinguished soldier
Tampabay.com - St. Petersburg,FL,USA
Curtis Krueger, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, January 31, 2009
TAMPA — The Army colonel who died in a parachute accident this week was a career soldier who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and earned the Bronze Star.
Beyond being a fighter, Col. James L. Merchant III also was an intellectual who puzzled out how to communicate advantageously with foreign enemies.
"It required much intellectual energy and rigor," said his friend and colleague at Special Operations Command, Col. John Leonard. Merchant succeeded with "his ability to think through some of the most difficult problems that we deal with in the command here."
Merchant, 46, was from South Carolina and joined the military in 1984 through a program at the Citadel, where he graduated. His career took him to Korea, Italy, Croatia, Qatar and the Air War College, which emphasizes use of air and space power in joint and multinational fighting.
Witnesses said one parachutists seem to veer far from the group, and dropped into a lake outside of MacDill Air Force Base. He separated from his parachute and began swimming, but for unknown reasons he went under the water. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
click link for more
Welcome Home Indiana National Guard, Your Car Was Just Towed
Guardsmen find parking problem after ceremony
Updated: Jan 31, 2009 09:25 PM EST
Richard Essex /Eyewitness News
Indianapolis - Several Indiana National Guardsmen got a surprise when they left a ceremony welcoming them home Saturday.
According to Specialist Ronnie Capps, about 25 guardsmen had their cars towed from a White Castle parking lot during the ceremony at Lucas Oil Stadium. Capps said they had permission to park in the lot of the White Castle restaurant on South Street, but when they returned, their cars were gone.
"We came home and we get to told to park there, they said it was fine, the manager said it was fine at White Castle down the road and next thing you know, we come out from our ceremony, our welcome home, and it was like a welcome home present, the car was gone," said Spec. Capps.
With the tow came a $165 charge for the soldiers and airmen.
As if having their car towed wasn't bad enough, the soldiers had to walk three blocks in the snow, some of them with small children in tow.
"The women are out here getting cold and we're getting cold and their kids, they're sitting at White Castle until they get their cars back. It's just unnecessary," Capps said.
The tow left a bad taste in the soldiers' mouth.
"I used to come up to Indy at least once a week just to go to White Castle. No more," said one soldier.
The manager on duty at the White Castle told Eyewitness News she was unable to comment about the situation, instead referring questions to Jamie Richardson with the White Castle corporation. Richardson said the company is working to make amends with the troops.
"What we didn't realize, what we are feverishly working to make right, we didn't know necessarily this was related to our troops coming home, which we have the utmost respect and support," Richardson said. (click link for more or watch video)
Updated: Jan 31, 2009 09:25 PM EST
Richard Essex /Eyewitness News
Indianapolis - Several Indiana National Guardsmen got a surprise when they left a ceremony welcoming them home Saturday.
According to Specialist Ronnie Capps, about 25 guardsmen had their cars towed from a White Castle parking lot during the ceremony at Lucas Oil Stadium. Capps said they had permission to park in the lot of the White Castle restaurant on South Street, but when they returned, their cars were gone.
"We came home and we get to told to park there, they said it was fine, the manager said it was fine at White Castle down the road and next thing you know, we come out from our ceremony, our welcome home, and it was like a welcome home present, the car was gone," said Spec. Capps.
With the tow came a $165 charge for the soldiers and airmen.
As if having their car towed wasn't bad enough, the soldiers had to walk three blocks in the snow, some of them with small children in tow.
"The women are out here getting cold and we're getting cold and their kids, they're sitting at White Castle until they get their cars back. It's just unnecessary," Capps said.
The tow left a bad taste in the soldiers' mouth.
"I used to come up to Indy at least once a week just to go to White Castle. No more," said one soldier.
The manager on duty at the White Castle told Eyewitness News she was unable to comment about the situation, instead referring questions to Jamie Richardson with the White Castle corporation. Richardson said the company is working to make amends with the troops.
"What we didn't realize, what we are feverishly working to make right, we didn't know necessarily this was related to our troops coming home, which we have the utmost respect and support," Richardson said. (click link for more or watch video)
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