Hardest-Hit Unit From Iraq War Deploys to Afghanistan

Hardest-Hit Unit From Iraq War Deploys to Afghanistan, Leaving Families Behind
Sergeant's Wife Gives Birth to Their First Child While He Stays by Her Side Via Skype

By CHRISTINE ROMO, TERI WHITCRAFT, BOB WOODRUFF and OLIVIA KATRANDJIAN
Dec. 24, 2010

For the past five months, a small team of ABC News producers has been embedded with the Marines of Lima Company and their families in Columbus, Ohio. Lima Company was the hardest-hit unit in the Iraq War five years ago -- in 2005, the unit lost 23 men and more than 40 were wounded.

Now, five years later, Lima Company has been called to serve again, deploying this time to Helmand Province, Afghanistan, a Taliban stronghold, leaving their families behind. This time, so far, Lima has been safe.

"Not coming home is the biggest fear for everybody," said Sgt. Ken Pompilli, who is on his second deployment. "But we're all well-trained. We're all going to come home."
read more here
Hardest-Hit Unit From Iraq War Deploys to Afghanistan

Marine on leave dies in metro-east crash

Friday, Dec. 24, 2010 1 Comment
Marine on leave dies in metro-east crash
BY KEVIN BERSETT - News-Democrat

A U.S. Marine on leave from his North Carolina base was killed in three-vehicle crash Thursday evening just east of the Poplar Street Bridge in East St. Louis, Illinois State Police Trooper Chad Thompson said.

The victim's 2006 Nissan Altima struck the rear of a tractor-trailer while they were driving in the westbound lanes of Interstate 64-55-70 in the wider, three-lane approach to the bridge. Police were withholding the identity of the victim until his family had been notified of his death.

A third vehicle bumped the rear of the Altima, but suffered no major damage and no injuries, Thompson said. The tractor-trailer had to be towed, but the driver was not hurt, he said.


Read more: Marine on leave dies in metro-east crash

Canadian Supreme Court reinstates veterans’ class-action suit

Supreme Court reinstates veterans’ class-action suit


By Janice Tibbetts, Postmedia News December 23, 2010

OTTAWA — A class-action lawsuit against the federal government for clawing back the disability payments of injured military veterans can go ahead after the Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday refused to throw out a legal challenge from a former Nova Scotia soldier.

"We're one step closer to having our day in court," said Dennis Manuge, the lead plaintiff in the suit, who served in Bosnia before he was released from the military on medical grounds.

The former corporal received the high court's unanimous approval for up to 6,500 veterans — more than half of them with mental-health problems — to sue the federal government for millions of dollars.

Their victory comes at the end of the year in which the government was under attack from the former veterans' ombudsman, Pat Stogran, who spent his final months in office, chastising the federal government for what he described as a "long-standing and deeply rooted" practice of treating veterans unfairly.



Read more: Supreme Court reinstates veterans’ class-action suit

McCain calls suicide prevention overreach and blocks bill

McCain calls suicide prevention an "overreach" and blocks bill! If all the parents out there visiting the cemetery this year for Christmas instead of sitting down with their veteran son/daughter watched this video about McCain, they would line up in front of his house and demand he resign from the Senate.
McCain told Representative Rush Holt "Don't give me a lecture" as Holt tried to explain this crisis.

John McCain blocks troop suicide prevention program



Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

From MSNBC's The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell blog:

Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, who admitted in his memoir to attempting suicide while held captive as a P.O.W. in Vietnam for 5 1/2 years, is responsible for blocking funding for a suicide prevention program aimed at military reserve troops returning home from combat.

McCain blocks suicide prevention bill

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Military suicide prevention efforts fail: report

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
WASHINGTON | Thu Sep 23, 2010

(Reuters) - Efforts to prevent suicides among U.S. war veterans are failing, in part because distressed troops do not trust the military to help them, top military officials said on Thursday.

Poor training, a lack of coordination and an overstretched military are also factors, but a new 76-point plan lays out ways to improve this, Colonel John Bradley, chief of psychiatry at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, told a conference.

Bradley said a team of experts spent a year interviewing troops who had attempted suicide, family members and others for the report and plan, presented last month to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is due to report to Congress in 90 days.

"They tell us again and again that we are failing," Bradley told a symposium on military medicine sponsored by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation.

Each branch of the services -- the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines -- rushed to create a suicide prevention program, but there was no coordination. The report recommends that the defense secretary's office take over coordination of suicide prevention efforts.

On-the-ground prevention training often failed because those running the sessions did not understand their importance, Bradley said.

"They are mocked and they are probably harmful," he said.

According to the report, available at www.health.mil/dhb/default.cfm, 1,100 servicemen and women committed suicide in 2005 to 2009 -- one suicide every day and a half. The Army's suicide rate doubled in that time.

About 1.9 million U.S. service men and women have been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

read more here
Military suicide prevention efforts fail: report

The Marines have reported the numbers have gone down, but they have reported drops in the past only to be followed up by another increase. While it is hopeful, it is not impressive. As you can see, we just keep losing them after they have survived combat operations but could not survive with the aftermath of combat.

Yet with these numbers, the National Guards and Reservists have a harder time surviving because when they return home, they are expected to and expect themselves to, just get back to their "normal" lives with no support system and a disconnected civilian circle surrounding them. He told Holt that "Maybe you need something like this in New Jersey, but we don't need it in Arizona." Too bad he must not read the newspaper from Tucson when they also carried the following report on this link. Civilian soldiers' suicide rate alarming

Civilian soldiers' suicide rate alarming
By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
National Guard soldiers who are not on active duty killed themselves this year at nearly twice the rate of 2009, marring a year when suicides among Army soldiers on active duty appear to be leveling off, new Army statistics show.

Eighty-six non-active-duty Guard soldiers have killed themselves in the first 10 months of 2010, compared with 48 such suicides in all of 2009.

The reason for the rise in suicides among these "citizen soldiers" is not known. It may be linked to the recession, says Army Col. Chris Philbrick, deputy commander of an Army task force working to reduce suicides.

Philbrick said investigations into the suicides of soldiers not on full-time-active status have found that some were facing stressful situations such as home foreclosures, debt and the loss of a job.

Other factors have played a role in the suicides, including relationship problems, depression, substance abuse, combat stress and mild brain injuries, Philbrick says.

The rise comes as the rate of suicides leveled among full-time active-duty Army soldiers, National Guard members and reservists following years of increases, Philbrick says. Among that group, there were 132 confirmed or suspected suicides in the first 10 months of this year compared with 140 such suicides for the same period in 2009.

That positive trend among active-duty troops was more than offset by the rise in suicides among non-active-duty National Guard members.

There were 252 confirmed or suspected suicides among active and non-active Army members through October of this year. There were 242 such deaths in all of 2009.

read more of this here
Civilian soldiers' suicide rate alarming

McCain must not know anything about this either.

National Guard sergeant from Phoenix found dead outside armory

by Alicia E. Barrón
azfamily.com
Posted on August 7, 2010 at 5:59 PM
Updated Saturday, Aug 7 at 6:02 PM

PHOENIX - A homicide investigation is underway involving the United States Military in Phoenix.

The body of a National Guard soldier was discovered Saturday morning in a parking lot next to the city's armory.

The victim has been identified as 45-year old Karl Markovic. Phoenix police say another National Guard member discovered him in the parking lot a few hours after he was supposed to report for drill.

read more

National Guard sergeant from Phoenix found dead outside armory

But in all of this, to tell Holt that it is not needed in Arizona, McCain forgets that he has run his entire political life as being a veteran and a POW. He forgets that the laws and bills passed in Washington are not about one state over another but for all states which he has been a senator long enough that he should know that. These men and women are coming home from doing what he voted for them to do but he can't manage to do anything for them when they come home? How dare he be so callous? How dare he use his title of being a veteran and then turn his back on every veteran in this country? How dare the people of Arizona put him back into office over and over again when he has voted against veterans over and over again?

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Five veteran suicide rescues in a two-hour period—so John McCain blocks suicide prevention
December 22, 2010 posted by Chaplain Kathie

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) Blocks suicide prevention measure
A small crisis group gets calls all the time from veterans in crisis. Considering these men and women know what it is like to face death on a daily basis, reaching the point where all seems hopeless indicates a crisis itself, we fail to grasp how serious this is. Yet on one night this same small crisis group had to rescue 5 suicidal veterans!
read more here
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2010/12/five-veteran-suicide-rescues-in-two.html

Soldier charged in knife attack

Soldier charged in knife attack
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 23, 2010 12:38:42 EST
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — An Army sergeant who was shot during a fight at Fort Campbell has been charged with attempted murder and assault for stabbing a military police officer, officials said Thursday.

The fight broke out Tuesday when Staff Sgt. Ian J. Kriebel flagged down a military police officer who was on patrol, the military said in a statement. Kriebel and the officer began to fight and Kriebel stabbed the officer “repeatedly with a knife” in the neck and upper torso.
read more here
Soldier charged in knife attack

Ex-MP says he killed lover, ditched body

Ex-MP says he killed lover, ditched body
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Dec 21, 2010 13:32:23 EST
Former military policeman Christopher Anthony Wilaby told a chilling story of how he strangled his married, stripper girlfriend five years ago, loaded her body into her car and drove onto Fort Riley, Kan., where he sank the car to the bottom of Moon Lake.

In a confession to agents of the FBI and the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, Wilaby, 26, told how he choked Echo May Wiles to death in Junction City, Kan., during an argument over her breaking up with him.

Wilaby now stands charged in the death of Echo Wiles, the 20-year-old wife of Joshua D. Wiles, then a deployed soldier and now a civilian employee of the Army.

“She meant the world to me,” Joshua Wiles said in a Dec. 9 phone conversation with Army Times. “I loved her, and she told me she had messed up a lot but she wanted to make things right, work it out, go to marriage counseling.”

Wilaby, assigned to the 977th Military Police Company, 97th MP Battalion at Fort Riley, entered the Army in 2003 and was administratively discharged in August 2005 at the rank of private first class, said a post spokesman. According to investigators, Wilaby was disciplined for going absent without leave and for assaulting Echo Wiles.
read more here
Ex-MP says he killed lover, ditched body

54 active-duty Airmen have committed suicide this year alone

Air Force Suicide Rate Hits 17-Year High
December 23, 2010
Stars and Stripes|by Jennifer H. Svan
Air Force suicides hit a 17-year high in 2010, and officials say relationship problems remain the No. 1 reason Airmen decide to end their lives.
Through Tuesday, 54 active-duty Airmen have committed suicide -- 13 more than last year -- and the highest rate since 1993.
The alarming news comes after nearly two years of efforts within the Defense Department to lower suicide numbers.
The other services are reporting slightly lower numbers among active-duty troops. In the Army, there have been 144 confirmed or suspected suicides among active-duty Soldiers, compared with 162 in 2009. The Navy says its suicide rate dropped from 46 in 2009 to 33 this year, and the Marine Corps say its numbers fell from 52 last year to 46 so far in 2010.
Air Force leaders said that, in addition to relationship problems, other risk factors they evaluate include history of mental health issues, alcohol in system at time of death, financial problems and whether an Airman was deployed in the past year.

This year, 197 Airmen have survived suicide attempts, while the Marine Corps has reported 165 attempts. The Navy said 60 Sailors have attempted suicide.
Army numbers were not available.

read more here
Air Force Suicide Rate Hits 17-Year High

VA Awareness of Services During the Holiday Season

Awareness of Services During the Holiday Season

WASHINGTON -- The holidays are a traditional time of joy, laughter and
sharing with family and friends. They are also a time of remembrance of
past celebrations and anticipation of family gatherings.

While the holiday season is often experienced as a season for
celebration and giving thanks, for many, the holidays may bring
loneliness, depression, anxiety and stress. As the holidays approach,
we encourage you to think about how you take care of yourself during
this time. As a Veteran or a family member or caregiver for a Veteran,
you are never alone; our caring professional counselors are just a phone
call away at 1-800-273-8255.

Below are some tips to help you cope with the stress, anxiety and
depression that can be brought on by the holiday season:

Pace yourself: This time of year can be a joyful occasion but also hard
on relationships and the pocketbook. Be aware of your financial
situation, so you know what you can afford when it comes to gift-giving
and travel. Plan ahead to avoid surprises.

Plan it out: Write lists to prioritize and schedule. Writing things down
often helps you to keep everything organized during a stressful and busy
time.

Take care of yourself: The holidays are for gathering with loved ones,
but keep in mind it is a time for rest as well. Watch your diet and
limit alcohol use whenever possible. Prioritize holiday activities and
avoid those that have caused stress in the past. Most of all, stay
healthy and active. For an exercise strategy, see VA's MOVE program,
www.move.va.gov.

Be of service to others: Instead of buying something, you can provide a
service for someone or volunteer your efforts as a gift. Visit a
Veteran who may not have family. Help those in need by volunteering at
a homeless shelter or food pantry. Do something for someone else who
needs it. Focusing on others for a time and doing some good can help
fight the 'holiday blues'. For opportunities to give back to Veterans
for their service, see www.volunteer.va.gov.

Ask for help: If you continue to feel depressed, anxious or stressed, do
not be afraid to seek help. Remember, our caring professional
counselors are always just a phone call away at 1-800-273-8255. We also
have online chat capabilities at
http://suicidepreventionlifeline.org/Veterans/Default.aspx.

You can also call your local VA medical center to speak with your health
care team. You can also contact the main social work office of the
medical center to get assistance. Find your local VA medical center at
www.va.gov/directory.

Not knowing how to find the Christ Child

"The soldiers sent by Herod killed 14,000 children" under orders so that Jesus would no longer be a threat to Herod. While Christians focus on the gifts to buy at Christmas, this is pushed out of our minds because it is evil beyond comprehension.

9. The Flight into Egypt and Return to Nazareth.
When all was fulfilled according to the Law concerning Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem, and the wise men were already on the road to their home, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Arise, and take the young Child and His Mother, and flee into Egypt, and lie thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy Him."

Joseph immediately arose, saddled his donkey, quickly gathered the necessary things, took the young Child and His Mother, and the same night went into Egypt. According to tradition, James, son of Joseph, accompanied them on this journey.

In the meantime, Herod impatiently awaited the return of the wise men. When the wise men did not return from Bethlehem, he concluded that the wise men, not finding a newborn king, were ashamed to return to Jerusalem. For the time being, Herod was tranquil.

But after forty days the news spread throughout Jerusalem that Mary had presented in the Temple Her newborn Son, and that the aged Simeon had come to the Temple to meet this Child and had prophesied that He was the Christ. Then, Herod realized that the wise men had figured out his evil intent and had purposely avoided returning to him. He was exceedingly angry.

Not knowing how to find the Christ Child, King Herod gave the disastrous order to kill all the children that were in Bethlehem and its surroundings from two years old and under. He hoped that among these children would be killed the Christ. Thus he calculated according to the time when he had diligently questioned the wise men. The soldiers sent by Herod killed 14,000 children. Everywhere were heard the howls and screams of the mothers whose crying for their children, innocent children, killed by the order of the brutal King would never have been comforted. They were the first martyrs to spill their blood for Christ.

Soon after this, Herod was punished for his cruelty. He came down with a terrible illness. His body rotted alive and was eaten by worms, and he died in terrible torment.

After the death of Herod, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for they are dead which sought the young Child’s life." Joseph did as he was told and took his family into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus reigned in Judea in the place of Herod, his father, and that he was just as much cruel, Joseph was afraid to go there. Being warned of God in a dream, Joseph turned aside into the parts of Galilee, into his native city Nazareth. There Joseph dwelt with the child Jesus and His Mother.

The child Jesus grew and became strong in spirit and filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. From the earliest years of His childhood, Jesus Christ exhibited unusual intelligence and remarkable sanctity in all His actions.

You can find more about Christ here
The Flight into Egypt and Return to Nazareth

But there was a history of this kind of warfare when innocent people were killed and there were no limits to what soldiers were ordered to do.

Joshua 6


The Fall of Jericho
15On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. 16And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city. 17And the city and all that is within it shall be(H) devoted to the LORD for destruction.[b] Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she(I) hid the messengers whom we sent. 18But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel(J) a thing for destruction and(K) bring trouble upon it. 19But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the LORD; they shall go into the treasury of the LORD." 20So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and(L) the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. 21Then they(M) devoted all in the city to destruction, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys, with the edge of the sword.

There are many accounts in the Bible that can be translated into what we call Post Traumatic Stress Disorder today when soldiers had to cope with what was allowed in rules of warfare. Back then it was whatever they were ordered to do. The troops today are not ordered to destroy all people who live there but because innocent people do get killed in war, they grieve deeply for them. Roman soldiers during the time Christ lived were ordered to kill men and women as well as children as we read in the account of Herod's orders yet Christ took pity on a Roman Centurion, healing his servant but members of the clergy will not point this out to those who served and felt abandoned by God or no longer worthy of the love of Christ any more than they point out the fact that God created a warrior angel named Michael long before He created man. Churches neglect veterans all the time when they ignore the spiritual crisis they go through after war and the let them along with their families suffer because they refuse to do anything to help. These same churches will adorn their walls and windows with decorations with more loving care than they see fit to provide for a veteran in need of spiritual healing. The Holy Child they call others to honor has been lost when His life means so little and they refuse to take care of those in need. If Christ had so much compassion for a Roman when they were willing to follow orders to kill women and children, why can't the clergy have compassion for soldiers today when they grieve for what they had to do or for a fallen friend? These men and women were willing to do what Christ said was the greatest love.

John 15
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

They are willing to do it for their friends and for total strangers yet they are allowed to feel as if they have become evil? Why? Because members of the clergy take no interest in them except on Memorial Day when they "honor" the fallen or say a passing prayer for those who serve?

No matter what, we allow people like the Westboro group follow families to funerals for the fallen soldiers, carrying hateful signs and shouting at the mourners just because they claim to be a Christian Church operating under free speech and not paying taxes as a church because they think homosexuals are evil and thank God for the soldier's death, no matter if he/she was gay or not. We allow soldiers to be pushed out of the military under all kinds of false reasons to avoid having to take responsibility for them after they risked their lives. We allow them to become homeless. We allow them to suffer, judging them as turning into something they never would have become had they not faced the brutal nature of war.

We do not know when Christ was born and experts cannot even agree on the year, but Christians celebrate the birth of Christ on the 25th of December. This date was adopted by the early Christian church from a pagan celebration connected to the Winter Solstice. We put up tress in our homes, decorated with lights and stuff the bottom of it with gifts. When we explain to our children why they get gifts we tell them it is because the Wise Men traveled to Bethlehem to give gifts to Christ. Most Christians do not know why we have trees, wreaths, string lights or have feasts unless they know the history of it but even with that, it has become more tradition than anything else. Santa replaced Christ, shopping malls replaced church and greed replaced charity.

Some give to charities this time of year between Thanksgiving and Christmas more than they do during the year but when you look at the luxuries they obtain for themselves the rest of the year, it shows what they value more leaving the poor and needy the rest of the year to wait for donations and guilt to awaken again. If Christ lived in their hearts, they would not be able to deny help the rest of the year, judge the needy complaining about them not taking care of themselves any more than they would be able to speak out against those in need the rest of the year.

The health insurance debate this nation had was about what? People were screaming they didn't want to take care of the sick who couldn't afford it? Are these people celebrating Christmas after that? Most of the people shouting the loudest carry a Medicare card provided by other tax payers paying into the system. Some of them carry a VA card because other tax payers believe they earned it just by risking their lives for the sake of this nation. Both government run health coverage. Yet poor people in this same country without the ability to pay the insurance premiums along with rent, food and clothing should do without? In other words they should just die an early death that could have been prevented had they received the medical care they needed? The really odd thing no one is talking about is the fact members of congress, their families and staff receive health insurance coverage from the government even though they didn't want citizens to receive it as well. Yet again, they make speeches on how evil "socialized" medicine is. Taking "care of the poor and needy" the way Christ talked about was replaced by "let them take care of themselves" by the same people who no longer have to take care of themselves because of government run programs doing it for them.

These same "followers of Christ" calling themselves Christian, getting on the TV sets screaming about the "war on Christmas" act is if Christ mattered to them but the rest of the year they show how much against what Christ taught they truly are. Do they really think Christ cares if someone says "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays" when these same people want others to suffer because they cannot afford to see a doctor? Do they think He cares if people go to a "Holiday Party" instead of a "Christmas Party" when the rest of the year there are millions of people in this country with no food to eat and no place to call home living on the streets?

There is no account in the Bible about Christ getting a birthday party but there are many accounts of what He preached to all willing to listen to Him. He talked about all that would be good in the world and preached against all that was evil in the world. When someone says they follow Him one day but fight for the sake of all He said was evil, no one trusts them with anything else they say.  We push out of our minds anything that is evil we do the rest of the year as long as we have this holiday to enjoy ourselves and feel "good" about giving to others stuff they don't need but we have no problem buying what we cannot afford just to say we gave a gift to someone else.  Makes no sense at all anymore.

Tomorrow night churches will be filling up to hear about the Christ Child being born. They will hear songs like Oh Holy Night when the stars were brightly shining and when the weary heart rejoiced when the soul felt its worth.

Oh Holy Night

O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining.

Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!

O night divine, the night when Christ was born;

O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

O'er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,

Now come the wisemen from out of the Orient land.

The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friends.

He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,

Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another,

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother.

And in his name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

With all our hearts we praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,

His power and glory ever more proclaim!

His power and glory ever more proclaim!

Yet with these songs and the box for donated toys gone, the next service will be a return to the what happens all during the rest of the year when the life of Christ is talked about but not something to live by. People will go back to their normal lives forgetting about the poor and needy the rest of the year because they took care of them for Christmas. A mom who cannot afford to feed and shelter her kids the rest of the year will still be on her own to make it one day to the next. The homeless fed for Christmas and Thanksgiving will still find little to be found to eat everyday or shelters to keep them from freezing to death now that winter has begun. The soul will return to not feeling its worth when they are forgotten about by everyone the rest of the time between the day after Christmas and Thanksgiving the following year when people care again. We don't know how to find the Christ Child because we have forgotten all about the MAN he was and still IS.

Senate passes revised 9/11 first responders health benefits bill

Senate passes revised 9/11 first responders health benefits bill
From Ted Barrett and Dana Bash, CNN
December 22, 2010 4:19 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Sen. Charles Schumer hails passage as a "great day" for America
The Senate passes the revised bill on a voice vote, sending it to the House
Sen. Tom Coburn: Compromise produced a better bill, totaling $4.2 billion over 10 years
The bill would provide free treatment for health issues from working at ground zero

Washington (CNN) -- The Senate on Wednesday passed a compromise version of a bill to provide free medical treatment and compensation to first responders of the September 11 terrorist attack.
The bill passed on a voice vote on what is expected to be the final day of the lame-duck session of Congress. It now goes to the House, which also is expected to approve it and send it to President Barack Obama to be signed into law.
Jubilant Democrats hailed the last-minute approval as a triumph for firefighters, police officers and other emergency personnel who put themselves in harm's way to help others in the 2001 terrorist attack.
New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who acknowledged that approval of the bill was in doubt until a few hours before the vote, called it a "great day" for the nation an especially for first responders sickened by exposure to toxic pollution from the collapse of the World Trade Center towers because now they know their country will take care of them.
read more here
Senate passes revised 9/11 first responders health benefits bill